No longer will the courts be forced to throw the college student who has made a mistake into prison with the hardened drug dealer. Require that properly forfeited assets are used to fight drug abuse . This ballot question requires that the proceeds from proper forfeitures, fines and other funds go into a new statewide Drug Treatment Trust Funds. This would force drug dealers to pay to help treat the people whose addiction they have caused. Funding would be appropriated by the Legislature and spending would be subject to strict audits.
Violent crime is down.
Doesn't that mean we are winning the war against drugs and don't need to change our policies While some violent crime is down, current drug laws are not working as intended. Sending an addicted offender into drug treatment offers far more hope for breaking the cycle of drug abuse and crime than sending that offender to prison. In fact, a 1995 Substance Abuse Task Force from the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court recommended expansion of drug treatment programs rather than imprisonment to combat substance abuse and related crime in the Commonwealth. On the contrary, this question dedicates more resources to drug treatment programs that offer us the best chance of reducing drug problems. Offenders would be ineligible if they were convicted of a crime involving more than a limited amount of drugs.