REPORT TITLE:
KASHBOX; $


DESCRIPTION:
Appropriates funds to continue the KASHBOX substance abuse
treatment program.

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
                                                        789  
HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES                H.B. NO.           
TWENTIETH LEGISLATURE, 1999                                     
STATE OF HAWAII                                                 
                                                             
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                   A  BILL  FOR  AN  ACT

MAKING AN APPROPRIATION FOR THE KASHBOX PROGRAM.



BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF HAWAII:

 1      SECTION 1.  The legislature recognizes there is a high
 
 2 correlation between substance abuse and crime in Hawaii--eighty
 
 3 per cent to eighty-five per cent of all criminal offenders
 
 4 currently in Hawaii's prison system need substance abuse
 
 5 treatment (the percentage of female inmates needing substance
 
 6 abuse treatment is higher at ninety-five per cent.)
 
 7      The legislature finds that the Waiawa correctional
 
 8 facility's KASHBOX substance abuse treatment program has been
 
 9 highly successful since its opening in March 1990.  Out of four
 
10 hundred ninety-three inmates treated by the KASHBOX program, two
 
11 hundred ninety-seven inmates have graduated from the program,
 
12 with an average retake rate of thirty-eight per cent.
 
13      According to a Drug Abuse Report Program (DARP) study, from
 
14 the National Institute of Drug Abuse, untreated addicts and
 
15 alcoholics cost taxpayers around $130,000,000,000 per year.
 
16      The legislature further finds that tough drug and alcohol
 
17 treatment is the proven way to jam a wedge into the criminal
 
18 justice system's revolving door, thereby putting a lid on the
 
19 exploding criminal justice costs.  A number of studies have
 

 
Page 2                                         789         
                                     H.B. NO.           
                                                        
                                                        

 
 1 confirmed the vital need for and success of substance abuse
 
 2 treatment programs.  For example:
 
 3      (1)  The CALDATA study conducted by the state of California
 
 4           in 1996 found that drug and alcohol treatment saves
 
 5           state government money.  Specifically, the study showed
 
 6           that, for every dollar spent on treatment, taxpayers
 
 7           saved seven dollars during the period of treatment and
 
 8           in the first year afterwards, mostly due to reductions
 
 9           in crime.  Moreover, the study revealed a two-thirds
 
10           drop in criminal activity for those who received
 
11           treatment;
 
12      (2)  The DARP study also found that arrest rates decreased
 
13           seventy-three per cent after offenders received drug
 
14           and alcohol treatment; and
 
15      (3)  Finally, a study by Rutgers University found a seventy-
 
16           three per cent post-treatment decrease in illegal
 
17           income (income from robberies, burglaries, drug-
 
18           trafficking, and the like), which not surprisingly
 
19           matched a seventy-one per cent decrease in money spent
 
20           on drugs.
 
21      In a Star Bulletin article dated October 9, 1995, Governor
 
22 Ben Cayetano supported the expansion of the KASHBOX program,
 
23 saying "increasing the program's size by 160 to 200 spaces is
 

 
Page 3                                         789         
                                     H.B. NO.           
                                                        
                                                        

 
 1 money well spent".  He went on to say that he "believes the drug
 
 2 treatment program is a bright spot in a system trying to solve
 
 3 problems, including inmate overcrowding and abuse, and drug use
 
 4 and other abuses by guards".
 
 5      However, the proposed budget for the KASHBOX substance abuse
 
 6 treatment program falls $540,000 short of what the program needs
 
 7 in order to continue into the next biennium.
 
 8      Accordingly, the purpose of this Act is to appropriate
 
 9 supplement funding for the expansion of the KASHBOX program.
 
10      SECTION 2.  There is appropriated out of the general
 
11 revenues of the State of Hawaii the sum of $540,000, or so much
 
12 thereof as may be necessary for fiscal year 1999-2000, to provide
 
13 supplemental funding to continue the KASHBOX substance abuse
 
14 treatment program.
 
15      SECTION 3.  The sum appropriated shall be expended by the
 
16 department of public safety for the purposes of this Act.
 
17      SECTION 4.  This Act shall take effect on July 1, 1999.
 
18 
 
19                           INTRODUCED BY:  _______________________