Pubdate: Fri, 20 Oct 2000 Source: San Jose Mercury News (CA) Copyright: 2000 San Jose Mercury News Contact: 750 Ridder Park Drive, San Jose, CA 95190 Fax: (408) 271-3792 Website: http://www.sjmercury.com/ Author: Ed Pope, Mercury News, ATTORNEY GENERAL OPPOSES DRUG PLAN Proposition 36: Proposal Calls For Therapy Instead Of Jail For Most Drug Offenders The state's top law enforcement officer and the largest provider in the country of drug treatment announced their opposition Thursday to a ballot initiative that would mandate therapy in the community instead of jail or prison for most non-violent drug and alcohol offenders. Attorney General Bill Lockyer announced his opposition at a news conference in Sacramento. Lockyer said he agrees that California should devote more money to treatment rather than automatically imprisoning addicts, but he said Proposition 36 actually would harm efforts to rehabilitate drug users. "Drug treatment programs don't work unless there's both a carrot and a stick," he said at a Capitol news conference with other law enforcement leaders including Los Angeles County Sheriff Lee Baca. The stick, he indicated, is the threat of jail or prison if the defendant fails treatment. Joining Lockyer in his opposition was Phoenix House, which operates 70 substance-abuse treatment programs across the country, including facilities in Los Angeles, Orange and San Diego counties. "Proposition 36 is a dangerously deceptive measure," said the firm's president, Mitchell S. Rosenthal, in a release from the firm's Los Angeles quarters. "It would undermine the drug courts and all the state has done to reduce drug use by California's most drug-troubled citizens." Rosenthal characterized the measure as ``a giant step toward decriminalization of drug use,'' and maintained that research of the past two decades has shown that seriously disordered drug users need to be compelled to change their lives. Supporters countered with an endorsement from the proposition's own big-name treatment program and suggestions that Lockyer's opposition is tempered by his need to be politically correct on the issue. "The reality for him now is that he has a constituency he has to respond to," said Dave Fratello, director of the Yes on 36 campaign. "That's organized law enforcement, which always speaks with one voice on these issues." Fratello said his forces are "disappointed" in Lockyer's stand since "he often tried to do the right thing in the area of drug policy as a state senator. And he still says he's interested in expanding the availability of treatment." Fratello also pointed to support from the Delancey Street Foundation, which operates treatment and self-help facilities in San Francisco and outside the state. With a few exceptions such as Phoenix House, support for the measure has largely come from drug-treatment and public-health organizations, while law enforcement and the state's judges generally have come out in opposition. Judges and prosecutors are opposed, they said, because drug courts in California are working and this law would put too-strict limits on judges to return offenders to prison if they fail treatment. According to an estimate by the state's independent Legislative Analyst, the proposition would divert some 36,000 people a year from prison or jail and require them to receive treatment at recovery houses in local communities. It also would, in a few years, begin saving the state some $150 million a year in the cost of incarcerating drug offenders. Opponents, however, said the measure basically permits a drug offender to fail treatment three times before a judge can even administer a 30-day jail term, a point that Fratello said vastly over-simplifies the reality of the situation. Contact Ed Pope at or (408) 920-5641. The Associated Press contributed to this report. - --- MAP posted-by: Jo-D