Dealing With Drugs, Part I

About 20 percent of Colorado’s 22,000 inmates are incarcerated on drug charges. At a cost of $28,000 per inmate per year, the state spends about $117 million each year to lock up non-violent drug offenders, and that number does not include other costs such as enforcement and prosecution. Drug offenders are often given the option of going to treatment instead of prison, but access to programs that meet their needs