BETTY FORD CENTER DECRIES PROP. 36 FOR DRUG USERS

SACRAMENTO -- One of the nation's best known drug treatment centers is
weighing in against an initiative on next week's ballot designed to provide
more treatment programs.

"A lot of people have expressed surprise that the Betty Ford Center would
oppose an initiative that's about treatment," center President and CEO John
Schwarzlose said Tuesday.

The initiative would require that first- and second-time drug users be sent
to treatment instead of prison or jail. That, and a lack of funding for
frequent, random drug tests, means users can't be held accountable,
Schwarzlose said.

Proponents countered that California's current treatment system isn't
working, as evidenced by the record number of people imprisoned for drug
possession.

However, the sort of treatment allowed under Proposition 36 is a far cry
from what his center provides, Schwarzlose said before a news conference at
the Rancho Mirage-based center, which has treated Hollywood celebrities and
other well-known people.

"I truly believe the Texaco on the corner could hold treatment sessions,"
Schwarzlose said. It would be better to increase funding for existing
treatment programs and California's successful drug courts, he said.

Dale Gieringer, director of the San Francisco-based Drug Policy Forum of
California, noted that drug courts treat about 5 percent of users, while
California prisons held a record 20,116 inmates on simple drug possession
charges as of June 30. Those inmates made up a record 12.4 percent of the
prison system's population.

"We've had drug courts now for the better part of a decade, and they don't
seem to have made much of a dent," Gieringer said.

Also, imprisoning drug offenders has not noticeably reduced drug use, added
Dave Fratello, campaign manager of the California Campaign for New Drug
Policies.