The cost of incarcerating persons involved in substance-related crimes has increased considerably over the past two decades in the U.S. The annual state prison costs have more than doubled between 1986 and 2001, from $49 per resident to $104 per resident (Stephan, 2004). This increase in cost was due to the rise in the number of persons incarcerated for substance offenses and crimes relating to the possession and distribution of illicit drugs. Substance offenders are the fastest increasing section of inmates in the U.S. state prison system (Harrison and Beck, 2005). In 1983, 12 adults entered prison on a drug offense for every 100,000 adults in the population. By 1998, this rate had increased more than sevenfold to 88 per 100,000 adults (Iguchi et al., 2005). Between 1980 and 2002, the number of persons in U.S. state prisons for substance offenses increased from 19,000 to 265,000 (Slade et al., 2008). This increase in costs has affected the economic system considerably and should drive society to focus on preventing the escalation of substance-related crimes.
