Do budget cuts spell the end for Texas addiction programs?

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by Change | 9 Aug 2010

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State budget cuts could threaten successful addiction programs in Texas, it has been stated.

Successful drug addiction programs in Texas may be under threat because of cuts to the state budget.

This is according to The Dallas Morning News, which reports that 70 per cent of the state's 72,000 inmates released from prison last year were dependent on some form of chemical.

Criminal experts have said that drug and alcohol addiction counselling and community supervision programs have worked so well that they've prevented the need to construct new jails in Texas.

However, this could change because of an $18 billion budget shortfall in the state government's budget.

Teresa May-Williams, Dallas County's assistant chief of probation, told the newspaper that Texas' prisoner rate will be "going straight up again - and it will be fast" if addiction programs are scrapped.

"We've saved money, kept the public safe and we're not getting the state in such a situation where they're having to just open the doors of the prison and start pushing people out," she commented.

Texas' department of state health services has established the Drug Demand Reduction Advisory Committee, which aims to reduce the demand for drugs in the state.

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