REHAB MEASURE CONFUSES LAW ENFORCERS

Kern County District Attorney's officials are wondering whether to stop
prosecuting some drug cases in the wake of Tuesday's passage of a state
ballot initiative requiring treatment of drug users.

Like many law enforcement officials, Kern prosecutors are discussing how to
change their approach now that Proposition 36 bars jailing people convicted
of drug use or possession on their first or second offense. The measure
"almost legalized narcotics" and raises questions about whether, in some
cases, prosecution time and money could be better spent elsewhere, said
Assistant District Attorney Stephen Tauzer.

Officials said even sending first- and second-time offenders to treatment
programs will be less effective because without the threat of jail, users
aren't as motivated not to flunk out of rehab.

The measure also restricts sentences involving residential treatment
programs in which users are held during treatment.

Drug offenders still can get jail or residential treatment if they also are
charged with other crimes, such as theft or burglary, Tauzer said.
Prosecutors may want to focus more on those cases, Tauzer said.

Even before Proposition 36, some first-time drug offenders in Kern could
get court-ordered treatment without jail time, said District Attorney
Edward Jagels.

No exact figures are available, but Tauzer estimated the initiative will
affect 60 percent to 70 percent of the roughly 3,500 Kern drug possession
cases handled per year.

Kern prosecutors will lobby to get lawmakers to overturn the "worst
provisions" of the measure, Tauzer said. He acknowledged that will be an
uphill battle after such solid voter approval.

Kern County judges are still grappling with what type of changes will be
needed to the current drug court program in which nonviolent offenders get
a regime of treatment, court monitoring and the threat of jail if they fail
the program, said Court Executive Officer Terry McNally.

Meanwhile, there may be a need for a lot more rehab programs in Kern.

Many Kern County treatment programs already have waiting lists, some up to
three months, said Chief Probation Officer Larry Rhoades.

California Department of Corrections officials were at a loss to say how
many inmates the proposition might divert from its 33 state prisons.

"We haven't been able to assess as yet how this will affect the
department," said Margot Bach, CDC spokeswoman. "I imagine there will be
fewer inmates but we don't have any numbers at this point."

The full effect of the proposition — which will not begin to divert inmates
until July 2001 — won't likely be felt for at least a year, Bach said.

One thing is sure — the proposition will not halt the construction of a new
5,000-bed prison in Delano, Bach said. Construction of that facility is
already funded with $335 million and work is expected to begin February.

"That institution is being built to house level IV (maximum-security)
inmates, which are a completely different group of inmates," he said. "If
the proposition does have any effect it will be in the lower-security levels."

Many of those lower-level security inmates are housed in smaller privately
run community correctional facilities throughout the state, including seven
in Kern County. The future of those facilities could become unclear if the
number of low-security inmates drops dramatically, Bach said. Or, a decline
in low-level offenders could simply alleviate the prison system's current
overpopulation.

Stephen Green, assistant secretary of the state Youth and Adult
Correctional Agency, said the state projects that by the end of next year,
the prison system will have 2,000 fewer drug-offense inmates as a result of
Proposition 36, and some 6,000 fewer by 2005.

"A big unknown here is that many of the people sentenced for drug
possession have plea-bargained down from a more serious crime," like
burglary, Green added.

"We won't have that option any more," he continued, "so it's likely that
we'll have people sentenced on more serious offenses."