DRUG ABUSE LAW AT ISSUE

Some Say Adding Jail Time After A First Offense Would Deter Repeat Offenders

Four years after a voter-approved initiative began routing many people
arrested with drugs to treatment instead of jail, a question looms over the
law's future: Is it tough enough?

Local prosecutors and law enforcement leaders are among a statewide
coalition who say the law has limited sway over people who serve no time
and continue to abuse drugs. They agree that adding jail sentences for
missed rehabilitation sessions or testing positive for drugs would boost
success rates.

"We believe the best program is one where sanctions can be imposed if
people continue to use drugs," said Lana Wyant, spokeswoman for the
Sacramento County District Attorney's Office.

Members of the Drug Policy Alliance, who wrote the initiative, disagree,
saying there is no need to clog jails with people fighting an addiction.

The question lies now with the Legislature, where a bill by Sen. Denise
Ducheny, D-San Diego, would allow judges to sentence people to jail for
initial violations of their treatment regimen.

In Sacramento County, where about 1,500 people have entered the program
each year since the law took effect in 2001, officials who work with the
program are divided.

Within the the Sacramento County Probation Department, an officer spoke in
favor of "flash" stints in jail, while deputies who oversee those in
treatment disagree.

"I believe it's all about whether you want to (stop taking drugs) or not,"
said probation officer Darryl Walker.

In the second year of the program, about 57 percent of the participants in
Sacramento County completed the mandatory 90 days of treatment. But 25
percent of those who were given the option for treatment never started,
according to annual Proposition 36 reports.

Certain characteristics apply to about half of those in the program: They
used methamphetamine, have one or two felony convictions and have used
drugs since they were 18 or younger.

The statistics give way to personal stories when Walker and another
probation officer, Renee Basurto, hit the streets. Each supervises about 50
people who chose treatment over jail.

They know the types of Proposition 36 clients by their history: Those who
say the drugs weren't theirs and sail through treatment. Those who give up
on recovery and end up in jail. Those who had hit bottom and embrace a
chance at a new life.

Heriberto "Ed" Ortega, 32, fits the last type. The pair woke him on a
recent Wednesday afternoon at his Natomas apartment before he was getting
ready for a night shift of work.

On first contact, he told the two probation officers he never held an
honest job, never met an officer he liked and has used meth since he was 19.

He chose recovery because it seemed like a free ticket out of jail, he said.

That changed at a recovery session, he said. A social worker painted a
picture of what he could have without drugs: the admiration and respect of
his children.

He said he no longer has a desire to touch drugs.

"I told you guys I'd be the Prop. 36 poster child," Ortega said.

Ortega believes the law is great as it is. He said when one sets his heart
on quitting drugs, a weekend in jail after a mistake would be discouraging.

"It's like you're climbing a wall and someone pushes you off," he said.

Basurto and Walker agree. They see people who are unreachable or deeply
motivated. They don't see a middle group that would change to avoid jail.

"Some of these people have been in jail on and off all their lives," Walker
said. "A weekend in jail won't make any difference. They have to make a
choice."

The officers' perspective, formed in the homes of probationers, doesn't
reflect the official line.

Steve DeRoss, assistant chief of Sacramento County's probation department,
said his initial impression of the law held true: It is too soft on violators.

Now, if someone tests positive for drugs or misses treatment sessions, only
after the third offense can a judge send the offender to jail.

"If people want to scam, they can use the system to slide by," DeRoss said.

The new law would allow a judge to sentence someone to a weekend in jail
after the first indication of a problem - a combination of missing sessions
and a dirty test, said Toni Moore, the county's Alcohol and Drug Program
administrator.

She is a leader of a statewide group of criminal justice and treatment
officials formed to update the law, which needs a two-thirds approval by
the Legislature because it is a voter-approved initiative.

The group's members have held opposite opinions on the get-tough issue but
united to compromise on the initiative's changes. The proposal, SB 803, is
set for a legislative committee hearing later this month, Moore said.

The Drug Policy Alliance, which was key to drafting and promoting the
initiative to voters in 2000, left the table over differences. Glenn
Backes, of the alliance, said the jail stays will cost the counties $29
million.

"We want to see more money solving drug problems than punishing people," he
said.