BOXER WILL SEEK FUNDS FOR DRUG TREATMENT

FRESNO -- Sen. Barbara Boxer wants to double the amount of federal money
budgeted for drug treatment and put millions of dollars into state
drug-treatment programs such as those mandated by California's Proposition 36.

After Wednesday's second Central Valley Methamphetamine Summit in Fresno,
Boxer said she might need to allocate more than $125 million a year in the
proposed Treatment on Demand Assistance Act for Proposition 36 and other
state-mandated programs.

Proposition 36, which takes effect July 1, will require judges to send
nonviolent drug offenders to treatment programs instead of jail or prison.

Some California drug-treatment programs report they have a waiting list of
almost two dozen people on most days.

Boxer, D-Calif., said she expects "very soon" to introduce before Congress
the proposed Treatment on Demand act. It would provide an additional $600
million each year for five years.

"With or without Proposition 36, this is a bill whose time has come," Boxer
said.

Half the funds would go to states to help pay for prison-based
drug-treatment programs and community drug courts, Boxer said. The other
half would go to public and private agencies as direct grants.

The proposed act has a long list of supporters in law enforcement, courts,
social services and elected office. The endorsers include San Joaquin
County Supervisor Steve Gutierrez and the Galt Community Concilio.

The first Central Valley Methamphetamine Summit, organized by Boxer and
Rep. Cal Dooley, D-Visalia, examined the strategies used by law enforcement
officers to reduce drug supply in the Central Valley, which leads the
nation in methamphetamine production. Wednesday's summit addressed ways to
reduce demand among drug addicts.

Tulare County Drug Court Judge Glade F. Roper noted that funds allocated
for Proposition 36 would be insufficient to meet the needs of his tiny
county's addicted population. Residents assigned to drug court pay about
$3,000 for their treatment, which includes twice-weekly drug testing.

Glade calculated that the county's share of Proposition 36 funds is less
than $300 per eligible case.

"How we're going to be effectively treating people for $300 is beyond my
comprehension," he said. "It will be a great task to make (Proposition) 36
work."

Nancy Peyton, a recovering addict who is enrolled at Fresno City College,
said she raised three drug-addicted children while on welfare. Mothers who
are addicts typically avoid drug treatment out of fear of losing their
children, said Peyton, 39.

She suggested that drug-treatment programs should be designed to involve
mothers and children, who could use counselors and staffers as role models.

The PATHS program in Fresno already provides drug treatment for addicted
mothers, but only 67 of the programs's 240 slots are filled, executive
director Brenda Kent-Spenhoff said.

"We need a hammer to get those women, and we need a hammer to keep them
there," she said.

Boxer expressed surprise that a drug-treatment program had empty beds and
noted that government could use welfare checks as leverage over addicts who
refuse treatment.

"There are consequences to receiving that check, especially if you have a
child," she said. "If there's a place and the woman refuses, that's a
problem to me."