If Prop 205 Passes, County Attorney’s Office Would Lose Millions

If Proposition 205 passes this November, the Maricopa County Attorney’s Office could lose millions in revenue from an affiliated drug diversion program. The county attorney’s annual budget is close to $100 million, and revenue from referrals to the drug diversion program has provided them with another $15 million over the last decade.

The county attorney’s office refers drug offenders to TASC, a drug treatment contractor, and a vast majority are marijuana offenders, according to AZ Central. The county attorney’s office receives up to $650 for every marijuana offender that is referred to and completes TASC’s program. In the last six years, roughly 15,000 marijuana offenders have gone through the TASC program, many of which were referred there by the county attorney’s office.

Those supporting recreational marijuana in Arizona say that Maricopa County Attorney Bill Montgomery’s opposition to Prop 205 is financially motivated. Montgomery opposes both medical and recreational marijuana.

J.P. Holyoak, chairperson for the Campaign to Regulate Marijuana Like Alcohol said, “It’s disgusting. The idea that the county attorney, his office, has a financial incentive to keep prohibition in place…it may not be illegal, but it is absolutely corrupt.”

Photo: azcentral.com