BATTLE ON OVER DRUG-TREATMENT FUNDS

Backers of a drug-treatment measure that won voter approval in November are
challenging cuts in treatment programs proposed by Gov. Gray Davis,
including a move to slice funding for state drug courts nearly in half.

The proposed cuts by the governor come in the wake of the passage of
Proposition 36, which mandates that nonviolent drug offenders be put into
treatment programs instead of prison. The initiative was approved with 61
percent of the vote.

"These budget cuts seem to fly in the face of what California voters want
and supported in the November election," said Bill Zimmerman, executive
director of the Campaign for New Drug Policies in Santa Monica and campaign
manager for Proposition 36. Zimmerman said the cuts may violate provisions
of the voter-approved initiative set to become law July 1.

Davis' office said the cuts reflect a tight budget year and noted that, as
required by Proposition 36, new money would go to treatment programs.

"A budget is a budget, and you have to make it balance," said Hilary
McLean, a Davis spokeswoman.

The programs are still being funded at a "significant" level despite the
"belt-tightening budget," McLean said.

The May revision of Davis' budget proposal calls for cuts of $5.7 million,
or 14 percent, for youth treatment services and $7.7 million, or 1.4
percent, for adult treatment services. It would cut funding for drug court
treatment programs by $8.5 million.

California at present spends $18 million a year for the drug courts, which
divert about 5 percent of the state's eligible addicts into treatment in
lieu of prison.

McLean said the cuts are small in comparison to the overall size of the
state budget.

But Zimmerman argues that the cuts may be a violation of Proposition 36,
which he said calls for spending $120 million on drug treatment programs,
and says the money should not be used to replace existing funds.

"We intended that $120 million be used in addition to the existing
(money)," he said. "I would say there is some potential that the governor's
budget is in violation of the provisions of Prop. 36. We are going to look
at these cuts and, if there are violations, we'll see what remedies exist
in the courts."

If the cuts stay, Proposition 36 money would not directly replace the money
Davis proposes to cut, drug treatment advocates say. Proposition 36
specifically applies to nonviolent adult offenders and would not affect
youth offenders.

"It doesn't make sense to cut funds from (a) proposed youth treatment
program because Prop. 36 does not include youth," said Susan Blacksher,
executive director of California Association of Addition Recovery
Resources. Blacksher said she understands that this is a tight budget year,
but said: "Any cuts to drug and alcohol treatment hurt."

Funds for drug courts should also be left whole, said Toni Moore,
Sacramento County's alcohol and drug administrator.

"It's critical not to decrease funding for drug court," said Moore, who
said not all drug offenders will be eligible for treatment under
Proposition 36.

In particular, offenders arrested for non-drug-related crimes, such as
simple burglary or prostitution, at the same time as their arrest on drug
possession would be ineligible for treatment under Prop. 36, Moore said.

Since addiction is often the motivating factor behind these offenders'
other crimes, she argued, they too need to be treated.

Advocates said Davis' move also runs counter to a recent report by the
state Legislative Analyst's Office, which found that treatment programs are
cost-effective but very underfunded.

Funding for state treatment programs would need to nearly double -- an
annual increase of $330 million -- in order to treat all Californians
likely to seek help if treatment were more widely available, the report
said. An additional $63 million would be needed just to treat those now on
county waiting lists, the report said.

The programs offer services to people like Sandy Alexander, 48, who after
26 years of on-and-off drug and alcohol dependency recently checked herself
into a Sacramento treatment center.

"I have to believe that this is it," Alexander said, once again hopeful
that this time she will be clean for good.

Alexander's trouble with drugs and alcohol began at age 15. Since then, she
has spent time in juvenile hall and jail but says she has never been
offered or been forced into drug treatment.

A drug-induced, near-fatal auto accident helped spur Alexander into
treatment, she said. She said she called every Sacramento treatment center
every day for two weeks before one found room for her.

"If I didn't get some kind of treatment soon, I thought I might kill
myself," she said.