THE DRUG WAR TRUCE

Instead Of Jailing Offenders, California Begins Treating Addiction Under
Proposition 36

THE voice of California voters will be heard in courthouses across the
state today, as a new law mandating treatment instead of jail for thousands
of drug offenders finally goes into effect.

Proposition 36, a sweeping measure passed last November, already is
changing the way police officers, judges, attorneys, probation officers and
health officials look at the drug problem. It promises to ease crowding in
our jails and help drug users escape the cycle of addiction, crime,
incarceration and poverty.

The measure isn't a perfect solution, but it's a major improvement over the
policy of locking up even minor drug offenders. Its backers are hoping it
leads to full decriminalization of drug use. We'd be happy if it leads to
more humane and reasonable treatment of addiction. In either case, the
impact on the public health and legal systems will be significant.

In Santa Clara County, where up to 6,000 first- and second-time offenders
are expected to be sentenced to treatment programs under Proposition 36 in
the first year, officials say they're ready to go. They say it loudly and
often, hoping to drown out the voices of the Proposition 36 backers, who
last week graded the county's plan for implementing the new law with a big,
embarrassing D+. The grades were issued to counties across the state, based
on such criteria as what treatment options they are offering and how they
are spending their share of the $120 million in Proposition 36 money. The
evaluators gave San Francisco an A and San Mateo County an A-.

"They don't understand," said Judge Stephen Manley, who runs the Santa
Clara County drug court. "We're the most together county in the state."

That remains to be seen. But the grades were based on highly superficial
criteria, and no points were given for thinking outside the box. For
example, the county was dinged for letting the county executive's office
run the program instead of the department of drug and alcohol services.
Considering the potential for conflict between the courts, the district
attorney, the probation department and the drug and alcohol folks, the
county probably made a wise move. The county also took a big hit for
putting $480,000 of its $6.7 million treatment budget into a system for
monitoring the progress of the program. Certainly it's important to gather
data and see what works. Is $480,000 too much? It's too early to know.

The first grades may be in, but the real test for California counties is
yet to come. If Proposition 36 helps drug users kick their addictions, if
it reduces the number of broken, unproductive lives and cuts the cost of
incarceration, then it will be time to hand out the honors.