OFFICIALS EXPRESS OPPOSITION TO DRUG PROPOSAL

LONG BEACH -- State officials, doctors, judges and law enforcement officers
kicked off a two-day summit Tuesday to gather forces against a new ballot
measure that would send drug offenders to rehabilitation instead of prison.

Opponents of Proposition 36, gathered at the Long Beach Westin, said they
are concerned that the initiative wouldn't do what its designers say. They
called it a "Trojan horse" that would take away drug testing and the threat
of accountability for people attending drug courts.

They also say the measure would cripple California's drug courts and would
decriminalize the hard drugs behind most domestic violence, child abuse and
violent crimes.

"This campaign is not about medicine, it is not about treatment, and
certainly not about compassion or drug prevention," said Betty Sembler,
founder of Florida-based Drug Free America Foundation, Inc., which sponsored
the event with Californians United Against Drug Abuse and the California
Narcotics Officers Association.

Others expressed concern that Prop. 36 doesn't make offenders accountable.
Instead, they say, it undermines the drug court system, which offers
long-term counseling instead of prison to repeat offenders.

"If you break a law you should be punished for breaking the law. If I shoot
someone, I can't say, `The heroin made me do it,' " said keynote speaker Dr.
Robert C. DuPont, founding director of the National Institute on Drug Abuse.

Dave Fratello, the campaign manager for Prop. 36, said in a telephone
interview that opponents of the initiative have been misled. He said the
measure will expand legitimate drug programs for the first time in two
decades, not cripple them.

The measure will also provide $120 million in new money for drug treatment,
he said, and will immediately send nonviolent first- and second-time drug
offenders to rehabilitation. Those who commit a crime while in possession of
drugs, and those with a serious or violent felony are excluded.

"The problem is, drug courts reach 5 percent of people convicted of drug
possession," Fratello said. "We need to expand drug treatment to many
thousand more. Most people don't qualify for drug court, and that's
failing."

He also denied that the proposition seeks to decriminalize drugs and take
away drug testing. Under the measure, drug use is still a felony and
offenders must complete drug programs, or they go to jail, Fratello said.

He said the measure comes in the wake of a similar Arizona initiative, Prop.
200, which mandates drug treatment instead of jail time. Arizona's Supreme
Court found that 77 percent of those who were part of the program tested
clean for one year, Fratello said.

He said Prop. 36 will save California $200 million a year because treatment
is less expensive than jail time.