Suspects convicted of what Allen County Counselor Alan Weber described as low-level drug offenses may not risk facing jail or prison time if a study indicates rehabilitation would be a better fit.
Weber told commissioners Tuesday morning the county had won a $16,641 grant from the Health Care Foundation of Greater Kansas City for a feasibility study of how to handle less severe drug cases.
“Emphasis would be on rehabilitation not time in jail or prison,” he said.
In addition to the study and cost of rehabilitation services, grant money would pay for monitoring of those whose conviction led to probation.
The first step will be the study, Weber said.
Emphasis in more recent years has been on less incarceration and more rehabilitation in drug cases that don’t involve large quantities of illegal drugs or suspects charged with sale of controlled substances.
Commissioner Rob Francis applauded the effort, noting that in some drug cases treatment was the appropriate approach.
“If it changes one life for the better it’s worth the effort,” Francis said.
COMMISSIONERS got some positive financial news.
Angela Henry, SAFE BASE director, handed them a check for $513.60 as a refund on money the county provided to help with health screenings SAFE BASE sponsored during enrollment of students in all the Allen County public school districts in Iola, Moran and Humboldt.
The county and Allen County Health Care Foundation each provided $3,000 for the screenings. Each got a refund.
Henry said screenings of 1,200 students in the three districts were projected and 856 were done. Focus was on dental problems. Accumulative cost was $4,972.79, leading to the refund of $1,027.21 to the two beneficiaries.
Follow-up examinations of problems noted at enrollments in early August are continuing. Henry said she would have results later.
