Say Yes to Ohio Issue 1 This November
Jul 13th, 2006 by Brian A. Thomas
This November, Ohio voters will once again have a chance to greatly reduce Ohio’s out of control spending by voting yes on Issue 1. Issue one allows first and second time non-violent drug offenders choose treatment over jail, and reduces the maximum jail time for these non-violent offenders who choose jail. The key thing to remember is that we can treat 6 people for every person we jail. Treatment has always been far cheaper and more effective, yet for some odd reason isn’t used nearly as much. After detoxing in jail, many of those jailed get back to using their drugs after they get out, while treatment has a 60 some percent success rate in states that use it.
Note this issue applies more to the big drugs than marijuana. For one, one doesn’t detox from marijuana as it contains no physically addictive substances. Second, possession of up to 100 grams (3.53 oz) will get just a citation and $100 fine… heck, even 200 grams (7.05 oz) gets just a citation with no jail time, and a fine up to $250… If you don’t know, that is one heck of a lot of weed, since even a quarter of an oz would last most casual users a week or more. So somebody who has enough to face jail time has a serious amount of the stuff, although I would still argue for treatment.
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