Pubdate: Wed, 03 Jan 2001
Source: Sacramento Bee (CA)
Copyright: 2001 The Sacramento Bee
Contact:  P.O.Box 15779, Sacramento CA 95852
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Author:  Don Thompson, Associated Press Writer
Bookmark: Substance Abuse and Crime Prevention Act 
http://www.mapinc.org/prop36.htm

STATE DIVIDES DRUG TREATMENT MONEY AMONG COUNTIES

The state is leaving it to California's 58 counties to divide their 
share of $60 million to implement a drug treatment initiative 
approved by voters last year.

Proposition 36 takes effect July 1. It requires that first- and 
second-time drug users be sent to treatment programs instead of 
prison or jail.

Counties will share $60 million as they prepare for the program, and 
$120 million each year for the next five years. The state Department 
of Alcohol and Drug Program's allocation to each county was made 
public Wednesday.

That is leading to predictions of a fight between drug treatment 
providers and county probation departments over the money.

Probation offices say they lack enough officers to oversee the 
estimated 36,000 offenders who otherwise would have gone to state 
jails or prisons, while treatment providers already have long waiting 
lists.

"There will be politics" as county supervisors divide the money, said 
San Francisco District Attorney Terence Hallinan, whose county will 
receive $2.3 million.

He hopes the Legislature helps avert disputes by approving more money 
this spring to beef up county probation offices and pay for drug 
tests.

Los Angeles County will get $15.7 million, or 27 percent of the money 
announced Wednesday.

The county would have received slightly more had the money been 
divided strictly on population, as the county proposed, said Bob 
Mimura, director of the Countywide Criminal Justice Coordination 
Committee set up by the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors.

But the state department instead factored in treatment caseloads and 
drug crimes, which benefited San Francisco County, among others. San 
Francisco is the 10th most populous county but received the 
seventh-largest allotment, Hallinan said.

Los Angeles County officials opposed Proposition 36 but won't fight 
over the money as other counties might, Mimura predicted.

"We can't fully implement it if we're arguing over scraps," he said.

See each county's share of the money, and requirements for using it, 
at: http://www.adp.cahwnet.gov/
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MAP posted-by: Kirk Bauer