It is time to start investing more into addiction treatment instead of continuing to lock people with addictions up in jails and prisons. It cost more to house inmates in prison than it does to provide addiction treatment for addicts. if we would take a small percentage of the money invested in prison and jails and invested it into addiction treatment, we could help so many more people overcome their addiction and become productive members of society. By continuing to lock up addicts we are not helping them in any way. We are only teaching them how to become better addicts and criminals. Providing more funding for treatment would also relieve a lot of the overcrowding jails and prisons are experiencing today. As a substance abuse counselor, I se first hand the effects substance abuse has on an individual and their families. Most addicts want to change and overcome their addiction, but are unable to find treatment due to the limited resources. To add to that most courts would rather continue locking up addicts, than to provide treatment for them. If the tax payer can provide the funding for a $47 million dollar boat dock in downtown Memphis ( which, to me, is nothing more than a metal ramp waiting to rust away into the Mississippi river) then surely we could find a way to provide addiction treatment to help save a human’s life. No this not a fix all. However, it would be a start into something a hell of a lot more positive for people with addiction problem, than to continue to lock them up in overcrowded jails and prisons