Pubdate: Fri, 14 Mar 2003
Source: Alameda Times-Star, The (CA)
Copyright: 2003 MediaNews Group, Inc. and ANG Newspapers
Contact:  http://www.mapinc.org/media/731
Website: http://www.timesstar.com/
Author: Josh Richman, Staff Writer
Note: Read the report at http://www.lhc.ca.gov/lhcdir/report169.html
Cited: Drug Policy Alliance http://www.drugpolicy.org/
Proposition 36 http://www.drugreform.org/
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/prop36.htm (Substance Abuse and Crime 
Prevention Act)

STUDY URGES INTENSIFIED WAR ON DRUGS

State Must Better Coordinate Prevention, Treatment and Law Enforcement 
Efforts, Agency Says

A law requiring treatment instead of jail for drug users has been a good 
start, but California must do more to reduce addiction's high fiscal and 
human costs by expanding the quality and quantity of treatment, a 
bipartisan watchdog agency reported Tuesday.

The Little Hoover Commission's 108-page report, "For Our Health & Safety: 
Joining Forces To Defeat Addiction," suggests resources could be used far 
more efficiently if prevention, treatment and law enforcement efforts were 
better coordinated.

"The evidence is clear that treatment can be a cost-effective, socially 
responsible and humane solution," said Commissioner Daniel Hancock, who 
chaired the subcommittee for this study. "But public agencies have been so 
concerned about expanding the supply of treatment, that we haven't paid 
enough attention to the quality of treatment." The commission noted that 
California still spends most of its resources dealing with drug and alcohol 
abuse's consequences, such as health and foster care. Meanwhile, people 
often are turned away from publicly funded treatment programs, and very few 
treatment programs are available for young people -- even those at high 
risk of abusing drugs.

Daniel Abrahamson, Oakland-based legal director of the Drug Policy Alliance 
and co-author of the 2000 drug treatment initiative, which replaced jail 
with treatment for low-level drug offenders, called Tuesday's report "a 
powerful and unequivocal confirmation of how smart the voters were when 
they passed Proposition 36."

The commission found Proposition 36 showed signs of success but California 
ought to work harder to align all of its drug- and alcohol-related efforts. 
For example, a council of community and state leaders should be convened to 
develop a strategy and coordinate existing programs. Among the commission's 
other recommendations are:

- - Requiring counties to assess treatment needs; reallocate resources to 
fill the gaps; and work with local community and civic groups to increase 
resources available for treatment.

- - Speeding up state and county efforts to measure treatment programs' 
performance; ensuring a well-qualified treatment workforce; and giving 
providers technical help in using proven treatment methods.

- - Linking treatment with job placement, housing, mental health, education 
and other existing services.

The report's call for an increased statewide role in fighting addiction 
comes as Gov. Gray Davis proposes "realigning" funding for Proposition 36 
and other health and social services programs, shifting oversight from the 
state to counties.

The Little Hoover Commission is a bipartisan, independent state agency 
created in 1962 to seek and recommend ways to increase the efficiency and 
effectiveness of state programs.
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MAP posted-by: Richard Lake