CALIF. REHAB CENTERS AWAIT INFLUX

EL CAJON, Calif. -- Shamrocks and rainbows, symbols of luck and
prosperity, brighten posters that Jim Tegarden and a dozen others are
preparing for a special graduation from drug rehab: their own.

"I never thought I'd grow up to be an addict," says Tegarden, 35, a
methamphetamine user since age 10. He was arrested for the first time
last year and served a short jail term before arriving here at McAlister
Institute, a publicly funded treatment center in this city on the
eastern edge of San Diego.

Throughout California, facilities such as McAlister are bracing for an
onslaught of new clients like Tegarden starting today with the
implementation of Proposition 36, approved in November by 61% of voters.

The measure requires treatment instead of incarceration to most
non-violent drug users on their first and second offense. Under current
law, defendants can be sentenced to treatment instead of jail only if
they plead guilty and a judge approves. Drug dealers are not eligible.

Approval of Proposition 36 "sends the message that the public is ahead
of the politicians on turning back the drug war and funding other
alternatives. California will provide the model," says Ethan Nadelmann
of the Lindesmith Center-Drug Policy Foundation, a non-profit group in
New York that helped finance the initiative.

The reasons for the shift in public thinking are complex, says Jack
Riley, criminal justice director of RAND, a non-partisan think tank in
Santa Monica, Calif. It's partly because crime generally has dropped and
many people feel less threatened by drug-related crimes, he says.

However, many veterans of the fight against drugs oppose the
far-reaching policy change.

Grover Trask, past president of the California District Attorneys
Association, which opposed Proposition 36, says the state had a sound
treatment system before the initiative was approved. Judges could place
low-level offenders in treatment through special drug courts that
provide treatment and regular drug testing. Offenders could be sent to
prison if they tested positive. Under Proposition 36, offenders
automatically qualify for treatment without a judge's approval and do
not face mandatory testing.

The problem with Proposition 36, says Jim McDonough, Florida's drug
policy director, is that once an offender asks for treatment, "the
criminal justice system is out of the picture" unless he or she is
arrested again.

Denise Wilkison, 41, started treatment at McAlister Institute through a
drug court. Fear of prison is one factor keeping her clean. "If I
violate my probation . . . I go back to prison. And that scares me,"
says Wilkison, a restaurant worker.

Joseph Califano Jr., who heads the National Center on Addiction and
Substance Abuse at Columbia University in New York, says that by leaving
out testing and the threat of incarceration, Proposition 36 advocates
"are throwing away the one reason why people go into treatment: to stay
out of jail."

Proposition 36 does not forbid drug testing. But funds earmarked for the
measure can't be used for testing. A bill pending in the state
Legislature would provide $ 18 million for testing. That's in addition
to the $ 120 million voters approved for Proposition 36.

One factor that helped sell the initiative to voters was that money
saved from incarcerating drug offenders could be used for treatment. The
state legislative analyst's office estimated that about 37,000 offenders
would be eligible annually and that treating them instead of jailing
them would save taxpayers up to $ 250 million a year.

A RAND study last year found that treatment costs $ 7 to $ 130 a day,
depending on how extensive the rehabilitation. Typical treatment is
outpatient, which costs $ 7-$ 15 a day in California. It costs about $
68 per day to house each inmate in state prison.

Some criminal justice specialists question whether courts, probation
departments and treatment centers can absorb a large wave of clients.

"In Los Angeles alone, we believe the treatment population will be at
least 20,000," says Michael Judge, chief public defender for Los Angeles
County. "There simply isn't enough money."

Elizabeth Schroeder, associate director of the Southern California
chapter of the American Civil Liberties Union, says she's concerned that
"there won't be enough slots, particularly for women."

Superior Court Judge Michael Tynan in Los Angeles County estimates that
only $ 2,000 will be available annually to treat each person. "We're
going to be doing this on a shoestring," he says.

Most of the state's approximately 15,000 drug treatment centers, which
serve about 126,000 patients a day, already have waiting lists. There's
concern that the thousands soon to become eligible for treatment will
face delays. Studies have shown that addicts without supervision
continue to take drugs and commit crimes.

Bill Zimmerman, executive director of the Campaign for New Drug
Policies, which championed Proposition 36, acknowledges that there may
be initial problems but says that's because an entire system is
changing. "The real test of Proposition 36 will not come in the first
month," he says. "We have to give it time to work."