DRUG TREATMENT REQUIREMENT TO BE DISCUSSED

Three months before implementation, there are still many questions
surrounding a new law that will require judges to sentence minor drug
offenders to treatment facilities instead of jail.

County drug and alcohol treatment providers are perplexed about how
Proposition 36 will affect them when it goes into effect July 1. They
wonder how they will accommodate more clients and what they will be asked
to do for the people sent their way.

Those and other questions are expected to come up at a community forum on
Proposition 36, scheduled tonight from 7-8:30 at the Simpkins Family Swim
Center, 979 17th Ave. in Live Oak.

Under the proposition, people arrested for possession of drugs for personal
use or for being under the influence of illegal drugs, including heroin,
crack and methamphetamine, cannot face jail or prison time. Those convicted
of selling or manufacturing illegal drugs still will face incarceration.

A judge will be able to order an offender to treatment for up to one year
and up to six additional months of follow-up care. Treatment can include
outpatient services, medication, vocational training, family counseling,
education or community service. When possible, the offender will help pay
for the treatment.

Although the courts have the ability to sentence drug users to a variety of
treatment programs already, most involved in implementing Proposition 36
think there will be an increase in new clients for places like Janus,
Sobriety Works and similar agencies.

The most well-known is drug court held in Superior Court every Friday,
which couples outpatient treatment with frequent drug testing and checking
in with judges. Those who fail the program are sent back to jail. But under
Proposition 36, that will no longer be an option.

Drug treatment providers, meanwhile, aren't sure what they need to do to
provide services and how to keep unwilling patients in the largely
voluntary programs.

Jan Tice, executive director of Janus, which provides drug and alcohol
rehabilitation to county residents, said he's not planning for any
increases in his already-full programs.

"The criminal justice system really has the job to say where they will go,"
Tice said. "And I think those issues about numbers really haven't been
sorted out, so I won't get real excited as to what's expected of us."

Ray Plamondon, executive director of Sobriety Works, said he just opened a
new area with 13 residential treatment beds and has room to build more housing.

"We kind of anticipate there will be more, so we are gearing up a little
bit," Plamondon said. "But we just don't know what it all means."

Bill Manov, who administers the county's drug and alcohol programs, said
most minor drug offenders are being sent to programs already but the new
law will mean an increase in people being treated. Just how much, however,
he would not say.

The new treatment shouldn't cost the county extra money, however.
Proposition 36 requires the state to reimburse counties for the cost of
treatment.

The forum is sponsored by the United Way of Santa Cruz County and the
county's Criminal Justice Council.