HeyBub wrote:
Don Klipstein wrote:
What if the reason Texas has above-average % of budget being spent on
incarcerations because their budget has below-national-average
spending on excesses, waste, and pork?

However, I might want to look into whether Texas could make a move
towards drug treatment programs, methadone, or the like.

Because drug treatment programs are, in the main, feel-good endeavors.

No, they are life-saving for those who want to change. As a nurse, I
worked in a detox/treatment center, back in the day when small towns'
worst drug was marijuana. Had one patient that I recall used coke, and
was a dealer. Had a local judge who gave folks with DUI's the choice
between jail and rehab...there wasn't a heck of a lot of difference,
other than the jail cell being locked. I'm sure there were loads of
people who relapsed, but there were those who woke up and took the
chance to change before they lost everything.

Most of the staff were recovering people, so it was pretty hard to BS
them. One old Marine explained why so many people are on skid row, his
theory being that they had nothing (more) to lose and knew what to
expect each day.

The amazing discovery made by a lot of folks in recovery was that their
troubles were not much different than those of other people drinking to
cover up whatever. I guesstimate that 90% had history of pretty serious
abuse as children and the other 10% probably couldn't bring themselves
to speak of it yet. Pretty horrific experiences for many, and some
started drinking/using at about age 8, although 12-14 was most common.

There are two federal drug treatment prisons. The BEST results they've ever
obtained - graduates being drug-free after one year - is a piddly six
percent.

Lots of folks become institutionalized...can't/won't function where they
must take some responsibility for themselves. Unfortunately, they
usually reproduce.

Conversely, a significant percentage of Viet Nam veterans returned from Asia
addicted to Heroin. Virtually all kicked the habit on their own.

Virtually all? You have got to be kidding...changed drugs, maybe.

Druggies are druggies.