TREATING AN ILLNESS

Proposition 36 was approved by 61 percent of California voters. That was
the easy part. Now the real work begins.

Prop. 36 requires judges to sentence first-time and second-time drug
offenders who are not guilty of any other crime to treatment programs
instead of prison. The ballot measure also authorizes the use of $120
million in the first year to make the program work.

It will require every penny of that amount, perhaps more. A third of
California's 162,000 prison inmates are serving time for drug-related
crimes. Many are there only because of drug use. The state's Legislative
Analysts Office estimates about 36,000 drug users will be diverted to
treatment programs each year -- a number that is certain to put a strain on
the existing network of programs.

Diverting that many people to treatment rather than to prison will save
taxpayers a bundle of money. The current annual cost of housing a state
prison inmate is about $25,000. Other states have demonstrated that
effective drug treatment can be provided for about one-fifth or less of
that annual cost.

But, as we said earlier, the real work lies ahead. California currently has
about 1,500 community and regional programs treating drug users. Some are
more effective than others. The state's first challenge will be identifying
the programs that make a difference and separating those from programs
whose outcomes are less quantified.

To that end, the state needs to free up half the $120 million called for in
the ballot measure to get the program started. The next step should be for
the new Legislature to give the state Department of Alcohol and Drug
Programs full oversight authority. The department then must begin
identifying reliable programs to which convicted drug users can be sent.

This is, to say the least, a Herculean task -- and one most prosecutors,
probation officers, judges and law enforcement officials didn't want to
undertake; they campaigned vigorously against Prop. 36. But voters were
just as vigorous in their support of this evolutionary shift in philosophy
about how drug users are treated. The end result should justify that support.