PHOENIX HOUSE ALUMS RETURNING FOR A REUNION

Dozens of former convicts who are graduates of the Phoenix House
drug-treatment program headed back Friday to its Santa Ana center, at
1207 E. Fruit St. But it wasn't for counseling--just a picnic-style
reunion.

Organizers say it gave the graduates a chance to be reunited with
counselors they haven't seen in years. There was another purpose as
well: to promote Proposition 36, the new state law that emphasizes
more treatment programs for drug addicts and less prison time.

All the returnees at the reunion were graduates of in-prison treatment
programs put on by Phoenix House, a statewide nonprofit agency.
"Treatment, not incarceration, is the only answer to the drug crisis,"
spokeswoman Arlene Winnick said.