DRUG-TREATMENT PROGRAM OVER JAIL BEGINS IN CALIFORNIA

SACRAMENTO -- The nation's biggest experiment in drug rehabilitation begins
today in California amid warnings from officials in Los Angeles County that
they do not have enough money to carry out their part.

Proposition 36, passed last fall by the state's voters, will require
treatment instead of prison or jail for the estimated 36,000 California
nonviolent drug users convicted each year of use or possession for the
first or second time. Treatment will range from counseling sessions to a
stint at a rehab center.

Arizona, the only other state with a similar program, diverts about 6,000
drug offenders a year to treatment.

California led the way in jailing drug users two decades ago and now locks
up more drug offenders per capita than any other state: 115 people per
100,000 population. That is more than twice the national average.

Proponents of Proposition 36 said drug treatment addresses the root of the
problem and saves money in the long run by reducing the need for prisons.

Each of California's 58 counties has a plan to carry out Proposition 36,
which allocates $120 million a year for implementation statewide.

In Los Angeles County, California's biggest county with 9.5 million people,
officials say their program could be overwhelmed and underfunded when it
tries to handle a projected 17,000 cases - about one-third of the state's
expected eligible offenders - with $30 million in state money.

"The county's going to go into debt. We just don't know how much," said
Superior Court Judge Michael Tynan, who supervises the county's drug courts.

Supporters of the initiative say officials are being alarmist.

"There's a lot of 'Chicken Little' going on in L.A.," said Whitney Taylor
of the Lindesmith Center, a policy-research institute. She said it is too
soon to say whether the county will be overwhelmed.

Drug offenders who want to stay out of jail and receive help from one of
the 300 or so private treatment services in Los Angeles County will have to
enter a conditional guilty plea. They then will be supervised during
treatment by one of 26 special judges. Offenders' records are cleared if
they complete treatment.