Rehab Instead of Jail

California recently turned down proposition 5, which offered repeated non-violent drug offenders a chance to opt for rehab instead of jail. It is quite idiotic to keep sending drug addicts to jail for non-violent crimes that are related to their drug use since prison does not rehabilitates, it punishes. Drug addicts have a disease that needs to be cured, you cannot punish a disease out of someone. If someone that has cancer goes to jail instead of getting chemotherapy, they are very likely to never get better. The same goes for drug addicts: they have a life threatening disease and are being punished for it rather than have it be treated. The benefits of rehab instead of jail are endless: less money spent by taxpayers since instead of having to maintain prisoners for years its a one time expense, less drug-related crimes such as robberies from crack fiends trying to get their fix, and it gives law enforcement the opportunity to focus on serious crimes rather than waste it on sick people. California is not as progressive as people may say it is; in Europe needle exchange programs and decriminalization are common and their crime rates are much lower. California needs to set the example for the rest of the country, and we have failed.