DRUG-REHAB EXPERIMENT BEGINS SUNDAY

SACRAMENTO, Calif. - The nation's biggest experiment in drug
rehabilitation begins on Sunday 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 only 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, at 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 58 counties has its own 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.

Elizabeth Stanley-Salazar, California director for Phoenix Houses, one
of the nation's largest treatment providers, said she expects a fight
between counties and the state over which is responsible for providing
any additional funding.

"At this moment we clearly have many more clients than we have funding
for," said Stanley-Salazar, who sits on the state and Los Angeles
County's Proposition 36 implementation task forces. "We're building the
transcontinental railroad here, six inches at a time."

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

Under the county's current drug treatment program, offenders are tested
up to six times a week during the early stages of treatment. But no
money has been set aside for testing under Proposition 36, which has led
to one of the most serious debates about the measure.

Treatment proponents say counties like Los Angeles test far more often
than necessary, driving up costs. Law enforcement officials say they
need periodic tests to ensure that offenders stay drug-free during
treatment.

Both sides are supporting a bill in the Legislature that would provide
an additional $18 million statewide for drug testing.

Some counties have lowered their projections on the number of offenders
who will be treated, after eliminating people with multiple offenses and
estimating how many would show up for treatment.

Al Medina, San Diego County's alcohol and drug services administrator,
dropped his county's original projected caseload by one-third, but
worries there are not enough residential programs for those needing
long-term treatment to kick their habits.

Bob Mimura, executive director of Los Angeles County's Criminal Justice
Coordination Committee, said he hopes many small-time offenders accept a
drug conviction instead and leave more funding for those who need more
in-depth treatment.

Those offenders, can "just take their conviction and maybe 30 days in
jail and they're gone," Mimura said.