BOLSTER THE DRUG COURTS

On July 1, a heavy weight will fall on the shoulders of California judges:
A measure requiring them to sentence most nonviolent drug offenders to
substance abuse treatment instead of jail or prison becomes law.
Proposition 36, which California voters approved last November, will make
at least 20,000 defendants eligible for treatment in Los Angeles County
alone. Judges will have to decide which treatment would be most useful and
cost-effective for each of them.

Most counties have embraced a model for success--the state's two existing
"drug court" programs, which spend $18 million a year in diverting a few
thousand addicts into treatment. The state legislative analyst found that
one of the programs, the Drug Court Partnership, saved taxpayers more than
half of its cost by keeping nonviolent drug offenders from occupying state
prison beds. The study did not count potentially larger savings in keeping
offenders out of hospitals and county jail cells.

State leaders should be bolstering drug courts so they can help guide
Proposition 36 toward success. Unfortunately, the budget that Gov. Gray
Davis submitted two months ago actually trims drug court funding by nearly
half. This week the members of the Assembly/Senate budget committee have an
opportunity to restore the full $18 million. They should seize it.