If Drug Treatment Works So Well, Why Are So Many Drug Users in Prison?

The U.S. Drug Policy Landscape: Insights and Opportunities for Improving the View

“…The number of past-month cocaine users in the household survey decreased by almost 40 percent from 2006 to 2010, and this decrease is consistent with other findings in the literature (Pollack et al, 2011). A change in the survey question pertaining to methamphetamine makes it difficult to examine methamphetamine trends before 2007, but it is well established that the drug was primarily concentrated in the western United States for decades and started spreading eastward in the 1990s and 2000s (National Institute on Drug Abuse Community Epidemiology Work Group Meeting, 2005).…”

“…The United States has experienced four major epidemics of illegal drug use: heroin (circa 1968-1973), powder cocaine (circa 1975-1985), crack cocaine (circa 1982-1988), and methamphetamine (circa 1990-2000) (Pollack, Sevigny, and Reuter, 2011). An epidemic is characterized by a very sharp increase in initiation of use of the drug, followed later by a similarly sharp downturn as the dangers of the drug become better known.…”

“…On the other hand, older users, with long histories of addiction and physical problems, are more likely to overdose or suffer serious medical problems as a result of continued use (e.g., Kerr et al, 2007). Their longer criminal records also make them more likely to receive long prison sentences when convicted; in fact, the aging of the American prison population is heavily driven by the increasing number of older drug-involved inmates (Pollack et al, 2011). Thus, the nature of the American drug problem has changed substantially over the last 20 years; it is now less of a crime problem (drug market violence) and more of a health problem (higher rates of morbidity and mortality) and a criminal justice problem (burdensome rates of incarceration).…”

Assessing the Impact of Mexican Nativity on Sentence Length

“…Controlling for the length of time served to the date of the interview also relates to the fact that this is a data set of prison stock. Other sentencing studies have used data on the flow of prisoners, that is, everyone convicted within a given year (see, for example, Pollack, Sevigny, & Reuter, 2011). A supplemental analysis that focused only on those inmates who had been incarcerated for less than 12 months was also conducted and results were substantively similar to those presented herein.…”

Can Drug Courts Help to Reduce Prison and Jail Populations?

“…To date, relatively little empirical research has investigated these various concerns. In an earlier article that focused on several broader questions (Pollack, Reuter, and Sevigny 2011), we examined why drug courts might not serve as an effective alternative to incarceration from the single perspective of restrictive eligibility criteria. In expanding upon this earlier work, the present study estimates the size of the drug-involved incarcerated population likely to have been excluded from drug courts because of several factors: capacity constraints, restrictive eligibility criteria, client failure in program, and overriding sentencing laws.…”