31. Fully Fund Substance Abuse Treatment

WHEREAS Hawai`i has a serious drug and alcohol abuse problem; and

WHEREAS prosecution and incarceration of nonviolent drug and alcohol offenders, while providing a temporary respite from substance misuse, appears to have little long term effect in preventing the substance abuser from using subsequent to his or her release,

WHEREAS our prisons are full to over-flowing with persons convicted of drug and alcohol related offenses; and

WHEREAS it costs the state and federal government over $30,000 a year to incarcerate an individual prisoner; and

WHEREAS voluntary treatment in both in-house and outpatient settings may prevent the substance abuser from entering the criminal system and thus save the cost of later incarceration,

WHEREAS supervised treatment in a secure treatment facility with subsequent supervised re-integration into the community appear more effective and inexpensive ways to rehabilitate alcohol and drug offenders than standard prison incarceration, now

THEREFORE BE IT RESOLVED that the Democratic Party will work for the prevention and treatment of drug and alcohol abuse,

THEREFORE BE IT RESOLVED that the Democratic Party will work to insure that there are sufficient funds available to provide all substance abusers who wish it, voluntary drug treatment in an in-patient facility such as Aloha House, and

THEREFORE BE IT RESOLVED that the Democratic Party will insure that sufficient secure treatment facilities be available to treat nonviolent drug and alcohol offenders as an alternative to incarceration in prisons with other types of criminals.