Pubdate: Wed, 22 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/
Author: Alex Brumbaugh
Bookmark: Prop. 36 http://www.mapinc.org/prop36.htm
Note: The writer is the director of Community Recovery Network in Santa Barbara

VICTORY SENDS CLEAR MESSAGE ON TREATMENT FOR DRUG USE

The election had so many close races, but one was not close: California's 
Proposition 36 won with 60.8 percent, a 2,000,000 vote victory.

The message of this victory of the Substance Abuse and Crime Prevention Act 
is that we need to fully fund treatment for people addicted to drugs, 
rather than incarcerating them.

This is more than a message; it is a mandate if we consider that many among 
those voting "no" were not those opposed to treatment, but rather those who 
feared the loss of the effectiveness of the current drug treatment courts 
in California, which have successfully diverted thousands of alcoholics and 
chemically dependent people to healthy, recovering lives.

Elected officials should accept this strong mandate from the voters that 
addiction is a public health issue.

As Gen. Barry McCaffrey, director of the Office of National Drug Control 
Policy, said in an interview at the conclusion of his career as drug czar, 
what we need in the war on drugs is a "comprehensive infrastructure for 
treatment services."

It is time now to make the investment in this infrastructure, not only for 
those addicted to drugs in the criminal justice system, but for those in 
the welfare system, the public health system, the mental health system, the 
workplace, and other institutions where alcohol and other drug problems are 
so costly to individuals, families and taxpayers.
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