America’s war on drugs can be characterized as a losing battle in many ways. But why is that? Could it be that we’ve misidentified who the enemy actually is in this fight? Ever since Richard Nixon declared illegal drugs Public Enemy #1 in the 1970s, the U.S. has been using mass incarceration as one of its primary weapons in the battle against addiction. 

But which is more likely to reduce relapse and recidivism? Prison or an addiction treatment center? What is the more effective solution to the problem of crime driven by addiction?

This Redepemption Recovery looks at why mass incarceration and prison sentences for drug possession are doing more harm than good and what we might do instead.

The Truth About Addiction and the Threat of Prison Sentences

The cold, hard truth that we’ve got to admit to ourselves as a society is that going to war with people suffering from addiction is a losing strategy. It always has been. Addiction is a disease of the mind, and the fact of the matter is that if the threat of a prison sentence was the cure for addiction, then the problem would have been solved 40 years ago. Jail is not the answer, clearly, but an addiction treatment center might be part of the solution.

Now, that doesn’t mean we go the laissez-faire route and just legalize drugs or look the other way, creating open-air drug markets like “Hamsterdam” in The Wire. No one here is seriously suggesting that. But there’s no question that most of what we’re doing now is failing to keep generation after generation from falling prey to opioid addiction, alcoholism, and substance use disorders of every kind. 

A person going to prison for possession of heroin is unlikely to receive any opioid addiction treatment at all. The very first thing a person with an opioid use disorder needs if you want to stop the cycle of addiction, is opioid addiction treatment in a partial hospitalization program. So, how can we claim to be serious about solving the addiction crisis if we are failing even to get the first step right and send the sick and suffering to a drug and alcohol rehab instead of a prison cell?

Why prison sentences for drug possession don’t effect positive change

• People who are addicted need to be in an addiction treatment center to change their behaviors.
• Prison isn’t an intensive outpatient program. Inmates get little to no drug treatment at all. 
• Prison clearly does not deter people from using drugs and becoming addicted. If it did, we wouldn’t be in the middle of an addiction crisis. 
• Trauma is at the root of addiction for more than 70% of people with substance use disorders. Prison doesn’t heal trauma—it inflicts it. 

Prison vs the Drug and Alcohol Rehab

Surely, we can all agree that the goal is to get drug offenders off of drugs and help them stay sober. No one benefits from a revolving door model that sees addicted people reoffending and being incarcerated again and again. 

Well… no one other than the privatized prison industry, that is. Society certainly doesn’t benefit. The government wastes taxpayer money to traumatize sick and suffering people further. And to what end? Prison isn’t a drug and alcohol rehab. That’s why prison doesn’t work.

Not only does prison fail the primary goal of deterring drug use and preventing addiction and, thereby, reducing recidivism—-but it often destroys lives. Apologies to those prison counselors, pastors, and social workers who try their damndest to do a lot with very little—-but very, very few people who go to prison for drug charges come out the other side reformed and whole. We know this. 

Why Drug and Alcohol Rehab is a Better Solution Than Prison

If a person arrested for their fifth subsequent DUI is lucky, they may end up in a prison that regularly brings in H&I (outside AA or NA meetings). In that case, they just might get some exposure to ideas that can help them reinvent themselves as sober, productive members of society. But that’s a lot of ifs. 

Prison Doesn’t Work —- If Anything, It Makes Matters Worse

By and large, the prison thing doesn’t work, and it often only heaps more trauma and discord on the backs of already broken people. What we know for certain is that an alcohol rehab has a far better chance of helping prevent that person from getting a sixth DUI than the prison does, AA meetings or not. Prison not only doesn’t work, it’s making things worse. 

Prison is Punishment, Not a Treatment for a Disease

Prison is meant to be a punishment. It’s also intended to protect law-abiding society from dangerous criminals. But here’s the thing: Most people with addiction are dangerous only to themselves. Putting them in an environment where they are apt to be traumatized and demoralized is no solution at all. 

Addiction Treatment Centers Break the Cycle of Addiction and Arrest

It may be popular public policy in some circles, but it’s not working and hurting people. What’s worse is that prison won’t even necessarily stop drug use. Anyone who’s been on the inside (or seen some TV shows) can tell you that drugs are available in prison. The addiction treatment center, on the other hand, is a therapeutic environment. 

The drug and alcohol rehab is designed and clinically proven to effectively change behavior—and that’s really what everyone wants here. Law enforcement, the courts, public health officials, addiction treatment professionals, and the people suffering from addiction. Everyone wants the same thing. For the cycle of addiction and criminal behavior to stop. Time in a drug and alcohol rehab is far more likely to accomplish that, there is no question. 

Why Are We Still Trying to Fight Addiction With Prison Sentences?

This is a question we need to be asking our public officials up and down the chain of command. Punishing drug addiction may be politically expedient. It might make certain segments of the electorate happy, including folks who offer generous campaign donations. But it solves NOTHING. 

Even if you’re a dispassionate billionaire who doesn’t care about the fate of people addicted to benzodiazepines or fentanyl—-why would you support an approach that is proven NOT to solve the problem? It doesn’t seem logical because it isn’t. 

Punishing Addiction and the Rise of the Prison-Industrial Complex

The rise of the prison-industrial complex in America is unquestionably part of the problem here. When a profit is tied to incarceration, the motivation changes. A private corporation that makes hundreds of millions of dollars a year managing prisons has no vested interest in helping to reduce recidivism and re-offense. 

In fact, a study by the U.S. Department of Justice shows just the opposite. Private prisons make recidivism worse. Since we know private prisons care more about profit than people, it should be no surprise that they aren’t interested in promoting diversion programs or seeing drug offenders go to an addiction treatment center instead of their prison. Private prisons are part of the problem. 

How Can Addiction Treatment Centers and Addiction Advocates Help Solve This?

We won’t sugarcoat it. This is a big problem and it seems like it may get worse before it gets better. But, the good news is that the facts and data are on our side. There is no solid argument to be made for sending people to prison for drug possession instead of a partial hospitalization program or alcohol rehab. 

You can’t make the argument that it’s more effective because every major study on this shows that the drug treatment center has a far superior record for reducing the chances of relapse and reoffense. Prison isn’t very cost-effective either, especially compared to a dual-diagnosis partial hospitalization program, and insurance doesn’t pay for prison. The taxpayers do. When you factor in the costs associated with relapse and recidivism, it’s nearly impossible to make an argument for prison as a logical solution to addiction-related crime.

Recovery is Your Birthright: Everyone Deserves Sobriety

Redemption Recovery offers a no-nonsense, evidence-based addiction treatment program in the heart of Ohio for people ready for a life in sobriety. Part of our work includes raising awareness about addiction, and that includes bringing attention to obstacles to recovery, like the practice of punishing addiction with incarceration. 

No matter how bad you think addiction has become, even if you or your loved one has been to alcohol and drug rehab many times before—-it is NEVER too late or too soon to recover. All that’s required is enough willingness to pick up the phone and put one foot in front of the other. Have the courage to believe and hope for a better tomorrow. 

One call can change it all.

It’s time for Redemption:  (419) 528-8007
Find out what addiction treatment your insurance will cover here.