[robertpaulsen]

"Nationwide about 70% of those sent to prison are rearrested on new felony charges within three years of their release. Our rearrest rates from participants in our drug court program have been much lower than that."

Apples to oranges. You're comparing felonies with misdemeanors. You're not sending simple users to prison -- dealers, yeah.

[TKDietz]

"Apples to oranges. You're comparing felonies with misdemeanors. You're not sending simple users to prison -- dealers, yeah."

I wasn't talking about misdemeanors, only felonies. Only people with felony charges get into our drug court. Most of them had meth charges. A couple were just in for second offense possession of less than one ounce of marijuana. Some were charged with things like possession of paraphernalia with intent to manufacture methamphetamine or possession with intent to deliver. Others were charged with non-drug felonies like breaking or entering, theft, forgery, and that sort of thing that arose out of their drug habits.

And yes, simple users are sometimes sent to prison. Normally they aren't if it they have clean records, but sometimes that does happen. (Not for simple possession of marijuana though unless it was there second or subsequent offense)

As for the statistic I quoted, that was not specific to drugs. Nationwide, around 70% of all persons sent to prison are rearrested on new felony charges within three years of their release. These people may or may not have gone to prison on felony drug charges and they may or may not be arrested later on felony drug charges. From what I can see locally though, an awful lot of them are doing drugs though, especially methamphetamine.

[TKDietz]

So as to avoid confusion you should know that possession of any illicit drug except marijuana and a couple of the milder prescription drugs is a felony in my state, as is possession of drug paraphernalia used for the felony drugs. I know that in some states possession of even a drug like crack cocaine can be a misdemeanor. That's not the way it is in my state. Even simple possession of marijuana is a felony if the person has ever been convicted of simple possession of any drug in the past.