Pubdate: Tue, 21 Jun 2005
Source: Daily Journal, The (San Mateo, CA)
Copyright: 2005 San Mateo Daily Journal
Contact:  http://www.smdailyjournal.org/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/3778
Author: Michelle Durand
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/rehab.htm (Treatment)
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/topics/proposition+36 (Proposition 36)

GRAND JURY KNOCKS DRUG PROPOSITION

The county's probation department is overdosing on Proposition 36 cases but 
with state funding about to sunset and competing state bills pending, 
officials will not ask for local financial help.

A civil grand jury report chided the drug law for overburdening courts and 
the Probation Department. Rather than save hundreds of millions of dollars 
annually by diverting drug offenders into treatment, the law does not give 
judges or law enforcement any leeway to punish those who do not comply, the 
report found.

"Proposition 36 has been singularly unsuccessful in meeting its goals of 
reducing crime, saving the county money and helping people stop using 
drugs," the report stated.

Instead, probation officers are processing approximately 100 violators 
monthly without the option of shipping them back to jail for a wake-up call 
about the harsher alternative.

"It's manageable but barely manageable," said Chief Probation Officer Loren 
Buddress. "We're barely keeping our mouths above water."

Despite the widening gap between work and workers, Buddress said he will 
not ask the county for financial help during next week's budget hearings. 
The department is already converting 13 part-time employees to permanent 
jobs with the opening of the new Youth Services Center. There is no room in 
the rest of his budget to offset the cost of extra workers and the state is 
obligated to fund Proposition 36 costs, Buddress said.

California voters passed Proposition 36 in November 2000, believing 
treatment was better than incarceration for low-level drug offenders. The 
twin goals were to save counties money and help people stop using drugs. 
Many district attorneys including Jim Fox opposed the idea while many 
groups supporting legalization and decriminalization backed it. Buddress 
claims the "ill-conceived" law was pushed by groups wanting to eventually 
legalize drugs and was not based on long-term findings by addiction experts.

"People don't ordinarily wake up on a Monday morning and say I'm not going 
to take cocaine anymore. They need some type of coercive intervention. 
Proposition 36 undercuts the ability to do that," Buddress said.

The proposition also leaves each county on its own to administer the programs.

The county received $1.9 million in state Proposition 36 funding for 
2004-2005. Three-quarters of that is used for treatment and the rest is for 
administrative costs, Buddress said.

That funding is set to end next year and currently four bills are before 
the state Legislature to not only extend it but also add some punitive 
action for violators. If passed, for example, Senate Bill 803 authored by 
state Sen. Denise Moreno Ducheny, D-San Diego, allows "flash 
incarceration," which enables a judge return a violator to jail for a day 
or two before letting him or her return to treatment. The bill, introduced 
in February, also pushes the state's allocation from $120 million to $150 
million per year.

A competing measure, Senate Bill 556, authored by state Sen. Carole Migden, 
D-San Francisco, expands treatment duration from one to two years. The bill 
also would require counties to spend all but 12 percent of funds on 
treatment, training, counseling and housing for defendants.

Buddress deems the county "wise" for taking a wait-and-see approach to the 
program and funding. The state needs to decide first whether it wants to 
increase funding or amend the law.

The grand jury calls on the Board of Supervisors to push the pending bill 
and take steps to "relieve the burden placed on the Probation Department 
and the court." Supervisor Jerry Hill said the only thing the board can do 
is finance certain things, like drug testing, out of the general fund. 
While Hill said the idea isn't out of the question, he prefers to wait for 
the state.

He considered the county's own drug court and programs a better alternative 
to Proposition 36.
- ---
MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom