Pubdate: Thu, 19 Apr 2001
Source: Record, The (CA)
Copyright: 2001 The Record
Contact:  http://www.recordnet.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/428
Author: Nancy Price, Record Staff Writer

BOXER WILL SEEK FUNDS FOR DRUG TREATMENT

FRESNO -- Sen. Barbara Boxer wants to double the amount of federal money 
budgeted for drug treatment and put millions of dollars into state 
drug-treatment programs such as those mandated by California's Proposition 36.

After Wednesday's second Central Valley Methamphetamine Summit in Fresno, 
Boxer said she might need to allocate more than $125 million a year in the 
proposed Treatment on Demand Assistance Act for Proposition 36 and other 
state-mandated programs.

Proposition 36, which takes effect July 1, will require judges to send 
nonviolent drug offenders to treatment programs instead of jail or prison.

Some California drug-treatment programs report they have a waiting list of 
almost two dozen people on most days.

Boxer, D-Calif., said she expects "very soon" to introduce before Congress 
the proposed Treatment on Demand act. It would provide an additional $600 
million each year for five years.

"With or without Proposition 36, this is a bill whose time has come," Boxer 
said.

Half the funds would go to states to help pay for prison-based 
drug-treatment programs and community drug courts, Boxer said. The other 
half would go to public and private agencies as direct grants.

The proposed act has a long list of supporters in law enforcement, courts, 
social services and elected office. The endorsers include San Joaquin 
County Supervisor Steve Gutierrez and the Galt Community Concilio.

The first Central Valley Methamphetamine Summit, organized by Boxer and 
Rep. Cal Dooley, D-Visalia, examined the strategies used by law enforcement 
officers to reduce drug supply in the Central Valley, which leads the 
nation in methamphetamine production. Wednesday's summit addressed ways to 
reduce demand among drug addicts.

Tulare County Drug Court Judge Glade F. Roper noted that funds allocated 
for Proposition 36 would be insufficient to meet the needs of his tiny 
county's addicted population. Residents assigned to drug court pay about 
$3,000 for their treatment, which includes twice-weekly drug testing.

Glade calculated that the county's share of Proposition 36 funds is less 
than $300 per eligible case.

"How we're going to be effectively treating people for $300 is beyond my 
comprehension," he said. "It will be a great task to make (Proposition) 36 
work."

Nancy Peyton, a recovering addict who is enrolled at Fresno City College, 
said she raised three drug-addicted children while on welfare. Mothers who 
are addicts typically avoid drug treatment out of fear of losing their 
children, said Peyton, 39.

She suggested that drug-treatment programs should be designed to involve 
mothers and children, who could use counselors and staffers as role models.

The PATHS program in Fresno already provides drug treatment for addicted 
mothers, but only 67 of the programs's 240 slots are filled, executive 
director Brenda Kent-Spenhoff said.

"We need a hammer to get those women, and we need a hammer to keep them 
there," she said.

Boxer expressed surprise that a drug-treatment program had empty beds and 
noted that government could use welfare checks as leverage over addicts who 
refuse treatment.

"There are consequences to receiving that check, especially if you have a 
child," she said. "If there's a place and the woman refuses, that's a 
problem to me."
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