NORTH CAROLINA GENERAL ASSEMBLY

1981 SESSION

 

 

CHAPTER 1358

HOUSE BILL 1500

 

 

AN ACT TO APPROPRIATE FUNDS TO TASC IN ORDER TO HELP REDUCE DRUG RELATED CRIME AMONG SUBSTANCE ABUSING OFFENDERS.

 

Whereas, the 1981 General Assembly in Chapter 1119 of the Session Laws appropriated funds for drug abuse services in Guilford and Wake Counties; and

Whereas, Open House, Incorporated, in Mecklenburg County also faces loss of its federal support; and

Whereas, these agencies are the sponsors of the Treatment Alternatives to Street Crimes (TASC) Program; and

Whereas, the goals of the TASC Program are to reduce drug related crime and criminal recidivism among substance abusing offenders by providing a mechanism for referral of appropriate offenders to community based treatment programs; and

Whereas, TASC benefits the treatment of substance abusers by improving client retention rates through criminal justice sanctions imposed, by using medical evidence to document the use of drugs by a client and by providing follow-up on the health, education, employment and avoidance of criminal activity by a client; and

Whereas, TASC benefits the criminal justice system by easing overcrowding in local jails by expediting pretrial release of offenders, by reducing jail medical crises through early identification of persons experiencing drug withdrawal, by providing the courts with objective assessment data and by providing a sentencing alternative to incarceration of substance abusers; and

Whereas, TASC benefits the community by reducing the costs of incarceration of substance abusers, by reducing the costs of processing and maintaining substance abusers, by reducing the costs of burglaries and other property related crimes and by assisting substance abusers to become productive, tax paying citizens; and

Whereas, TASC's annual cost per client is less than four hundred fifty dollars ($450.00) which is substantially less than the State's costs of incarceration of these persons; and

Whereas, TASC's success rate of sixty-five percent (65%) and recidivism rate of fifteen percent (15%) are significantly less than the State penal system recidivism rate of sixty-five percent (65%); Now, therefore,

 

The General Assembly of North Carolina enacts:

 

Section 1. There is appropriated from the General Fund to the Department of Human Resources, Division of Mental Health, Mental Retardation, and Substance Abuse Services, the sum of thirty thousand two hundred thirty dollars ($30,230) for fiscal year 1982-83 for the support of Open House, Incorporated, for the purpose of contracting for programs which reduce drug related crime and criminal recidivism among substance abusing offenders.

Sec. 1.1. These funds shall not become part of the continuation budget. Any unexpended funds at the end of the 1982-83 fiscal year shall not revert to the General Fund.

Sec. 2. This act shall become effective July 1, 1982.

In the General Assembly read three times and ratified, this the 23rd day of June, 1982.