TASC

(Springfield, IL) – Comments from Pam Rodriguez, executive vice president of Treatment Alternatives for Safe Communities, a statewide organization that advocates for drug treatment, on state legislative initiatives to: 1) study state drug laws’ impact on minority incarceration rates (S.B. 2476); 2) provide an additional $10 million for state drug treatment programs (S.B. 1442)

Suggested Script: Drug treatment advocates and state lawmakers recently unveiled legislation to tackle the escalating number of minorities sentenced to Illinois prisons.

Representatives from Treatment Alternatives for Safe Communities and State Senators Mattie Hunter and Donne Trotter, Democrats of Chicago, recently called on the Illinois General Assembly to approve both a state commission to study the impact of drug laws on minorities and to spend an addition $10 million for drug treatment.

In 2005, African-Americans in Illinois were 9 times more likely to be imprisoned than whites, well above the national average of 5.6 times more likely, the advocates say.

Pam Rodriguez, executive vice president of Treatment Alternatives for Safe Communities, a statewide organization that advocates for drug treatment, says Illinois needs to invest more in effective drug treatment programs.

Sound Bite (MP3 Sound File) (00:13) “Drug treatment is not soft on crime. If they fail in treatment, they’ll return to prison. We know that treatment works, and we need to spend our limited tax dollars on programs that work.”

Suggested Tag: The study commission legislation and the additional $10 million for drug treatment face an uncertain future in the legislature.

-Download MP3 Sound File-

Listen Now:

 Standard Podcasts [0:12m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download | Embeddable Player | Hits (53)