TREATMENT REPLACES JAIL FOR SOME CRIMES DRUG LAW TO REVAMP CALIFORNIA
PRISONS

SAN FRANCISCO -- California's enormous prison system, the largest in the
Western Hemisphere with more than 162,000 inmates, may be radically altered
after voters on Tuesday overwhelmingly approved a measure that will
sentence nonviolent drug offenders to treatment instead of prison.

Nearly one in three prisoners in California is serving time for a
drug-related crime, more per capita than any other state. The new law,
Proposition 36 -- also known as the Substance Abuse and Crime Prevention
Act -- puts California at the forefront of a national movement to reform
drug laws; it will send first- and second-time nonviolent drug offenders
into treatment, reducing the prison population by as many as 36,000 inmates
a year, according to the state's nonpartisan legislative analyst.

The measure was approved by 61 percent of voters despite strong opposition
from virtually all of the state's law enforcement officials, judges and
some health care groups.

Dave Fratello, a spokesman for the Yes on 36 campaign, said that the
passage of the law "punctures the conventional wisdom among politicians
that what voters want is an across-the-board zero-tolerance drug policy."

Proposition 36 requires probation and drug treatment for possession, use
and transport for personal use of controlled substances and similar parole
violations. Those caught selling or manufacturing drugs are excluded from
the treatment mandate, as are those offenders also arrested for
non-drug-related charges. The law is to go in effect in July 2001.

By diverting thousands of drug abusers from jail or prison, the state
Legislative Analyst's office estimates the measure would save the state
about $250 million a year in incarceration costs, and save local
governments $40 million a year in operations costs.

The measure would allocate $120 million a year for drug treatment,
estimated at about $4,000 a patient. That represents a large cut of the
costs -- approximately $20,000 a year -- to keep a person in prison.

Opponents of Proposition 36 said the measure would decimate the state's
drug courts, which already send thousands of drug addicts a year to
treatment instead of prison.

Under Proposition 36, drug offenders who fail treatment programs twice
could be sentenced to jail or prison, and those who fail three times are
required to serve time.

The California District Attorneys Association is mulling a legal challenge
to Proposition 36.