Pat Flemming, director of Salt Lake County Substance Abuse Services and former state director of substance abuse, said he only has to point to the list of some 40,000 people awaiting drug treatment in Salt Lake County alone. Flemming said Salt Lake County has the resources for only 10,000 patients at one time, but the passage of DORA could help the situation.

Although the cost to fund DORA runs into the millions, Flemming said the costs are a fraction of what the state is spending now.

Flemming Fleming recalls a former methamphetamine user with two small children kids to illustrate his point: "She got arrested, and her kids were taken away. She was on a three-month waiting list for a program for meth moms, and she was thrown in jail."

Flemming calculated that it cost taxpayers not only $30,000 for the woman's year in jail, but that it cost the state $33,000 for each child in foster care. Not to mention the emotional price of breaking up a family.

With DORA, Flemming hopes lawmakers realize something has to change. "We just cannot keep building prison cells," he said.

While most legislators and Huntsman support it, the ongoing funding requirements of the program have them concerned.

"We would like to see it funded, but we have prioritized some things ahead of it," Chaffetz said, adding that Huntsman will let lawmakers decide whether it should be funded, although "if it were to come to the governor's desk, the governor would sign it."

The bill mandates expanded screening and evaluations of inmates in FY 2007, estimated to require another $400,000 in that year. State figures indicate that providing appropriate screening and treatment to offenders with substance abuse problems will reduce their reliance on public services and should result in some marginal decrease of costs to the criminal justice and public assistance systems.

DORA proposes that first-time or second-time drug offenders be diverted to an intensive out-patient drug treatment program. A judge would be given a drug history evaluation on the person and then determine if they qualify for treatment.

Utah's drug court system, which allows a treatment first option to some drug offenders, shows that a convict without drug treatment has a 60 percent chance of reoffending. With drug treatment, that rate goes down to around 30 percent.

The idea behind the bill has been around for several years.

In 2004, DORA passed both houses only to be killed due to its price tag. It seemed support for the concept was there, but not the will to fund it.

Support remains strong for DORA. During her State-of-the-Judiciary Address, Utah Supreme Court Chief Justice Christine Durham backed the bill as a necessary step in improving the justice system.

"We feel very strongly about it," said Utah Attorney General Mark Shurtleff, who said it is a bill that is "long overdue."

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