Pubdate: Sat, 18 Nov 2000
Source: Santa Barbara News-Press (CA)
Copyright: 2000 Santa Barbara News-Press
Contact:  P.O. Box 1359, Santa Barbara, CA 93102
Website: http://www.newspress.com/
Bookmark: For Substance Abuse and Crime Prevention Act items:
http://www.mapinc.org/prop36.htm

TREATING AN ILLNESS

Proposition 36 was approved by 61 percent of California voters. That was 
the easy part. Now the real work begins.

Prop. 36 requires judges to sentence first-time and second-time drug 
offenders who are not guilty of any other crime to treatment programs 
instead of prison. The ballot measure also authorizes the use of $120 
million in the first year to make the program work.

It will require every penny of that amount, perhaps more. A third of 
California's 162,000 prison inmates are serving time for drug-related 
crimes. Many are there only because of drug use. The state's Legislative 
Analysts Office estimates about 36,000 drug users will be diverted to 
treatment programs each year -- a number that is certain to put a strain on 
the existing network of programs.

Diverting that many people to treatment rather than to prison will save 
taxpayers a bundle of money. The current annual cost of housing a state 
prison inmate is about $25,000. Other states have demonstrated that 
effective drug treatment can be provided for about one-fifth or less of 
that annual cost.

But, as we said earlier, the real work lies ahead. California currently has 
about 1,500 community and regional programs treating drug users. Some are 
more effective than others. The state's first challenge will be identifying 
the programs that make a difference and separating those from programs 
whose outcomes are less quantified.

To that end, the state needs to free up half the $120 million called for in 
the ballot measure to get the program started. The next step should be for 
the new Legislature to give the state Department of Alcohol and Drug 
Programs full oversight authority. The department then must begin 
identifying reliable programs to which convicted drug users can be sent.

This is, to say the least, a Herculean task -- and one most prosecutors, 
probation officers, judges and law enforcement officials didn't want to 
undertake; they campaigned vigorously against Prop. 36. But voters were 
just as vigorous in their support of this evolutionary shift in philosophy 
about how drug users are treated. The end result should justify that support.
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MAP posted-by: Jo-D