CALIFORNIA'S BOLD DRUG EXPERIMENT

California Is Launching A Different Battle Plan Against Drug Abuse. Under
A New Law, Some Offenders Should Never See The Inside Of A Jail.

DONNA KELLEY, CNN ANCHOR: California is launching a different battle plan
against drug abuse. Under a new law, some offenders should never see the
inside of a jail.

CNN's Rusty Dornin explains the questions and controversy that the law is
creating.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

RUSTY DORNIN, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): He's not violent. He's
definitely got a drug problem. And under California's new law, offenders
like Robert Downey Jr. could get sentenced to treatment, not time.

GLENN BACKE, DRUG POLICY FOUNDATION: The only law they broke, is they are
in possession of drugs. They have no other crimes at the time. And they
have no other violent crimes in the last five years.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: You are charged with being under the influence of cocaine.

DORNIN: Judge Peggy Hora once used treatment in jail like the carrot and
the stick, a stick the new law all but takes away.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: You are also eligible under California's new law which
went into effect today...

DORNIN: Drug testing is another tool taken away by the new law. And without
jail time or drug testing to keep addicts in line, Hora worries the whole
experiment will end up sending the wrong message.

JUDGE PEGGY HORA, ALAMEDA COUNTY: My biggest fear is we will be spending
all this money, half a billion dollars, to have people say treatment
doesn't work. And that's not true.

DORNIN: (UNINTELLIGIBLE) Free at Last Drug Treatment Center, the new law
will house another twelve addicts, but from the courtrooms to the treatment
centers, no one is exactly sure how the law will work.

PRIYA HAJIC, TREATMENT PROGRAM ADVISOR: We don't know how much money, we
don't know exactly how many clients and we don't know exactly what their
needs are going to be.

DORNIN: Along with uncertainty, there are fears that prosecutors in some
counties won't play fair.

Maybe the DAs are going to press secondary charges on everyone and you
know, resisting arrest, or solicitation, because there is a secondary
charge, it will disqualify you, and they can get you on the prison time.

DORNIN: California jails more drug users per capita than any other state.
Not jailing low-level offenders could save $250 million a year, say
supporters, for the next 5 1/2 years.

(on camera): About 36, 000 drug offenders will get sentenced annually to
treatment. Will they go? Will they quit using drugs? The answers will
determine the outcome of one of California's boldest legal experiments.

Rusty Dornin, CNN, San Francisco