CALIFORNIA VOTERS TURN OUT IN HIGH NUMBERS

Proposition 36 asked Californians to launch a wholesale shift in the way
the criminal justice system handles nonviolent drug offenders. Modeled
after a program adopted by Arizona voters in 1996, the measure proposed
spending $120 million a year to treat, rather than incarcerate, those
arrested for drug possession and ex-convicts who violate parole by using
narcotics.

Supporters built their campaign on polls revealing voter disillusionment
with the nation's 20-year-old war on drugs and kept their message
simple--addiction should be treated as a medical problem, not a criminal one.

Opponents had some heavy hitters on their side, among them Gov. Davis, the
attorney general and scores of drug court judges who complained the measure
carried too few sanctions for offenders who relapse. Actor Martin Sheen cut
TV ads against the initiative and Betty Ford--namesake of one of the
nation's most famous drug treatment clinics--fired off last-minute e-mails
attacking it.

But the solid advantage in fund-raising went to Proposition 36 supporters,
thanks to three millionaire businessmen who have bankrolled drug policy
initiatives around the country. With $2.8 million to work with, backers
were on TV far more frequently than foes, who raised about $450,000 and saw
promises of big dollars from the state prison guards' union evaporate.