PROP. 36 BACKERS PUSH DRUG REFORM

If passed by voters this November, California proposition 36 would mark a
major de-escalation in the nation's war on drugs, funneling tens of
thousands of drug users into rehabilitation programs rather than prison cells.

Under Prop. 36, those busted on drug possession charges both misdemeanor
and felony would have the option of going into a judge-monitored treatment
program for 12 to 18 months.

The initiative, which would provide $120 million annually for rehab, covers
only nonviolent offenders.

"The drug treatment professionals who really had the central hand in
crafting this look at drug abuse much as you would look at diabetes or
obesity," said Dan Abrahamson of the Lindesmith Center, a drug law think
tank that helped draft the initiative. "They don't conceive of a central
role for incarceration there; they see a central role for good, trained
medical professionals establishing strong relationships with patients and
working with them over a period of time."

The measure could make a sizable dent in California's burgeoning 162,000
and growing penitentiary population, keeping some 25,000 people out of
prison each year and lowering the number of county jail inmates by 12,000
annually, according to the state legislative analyst.

The Golden State, notorious for its hellish lockups, leads the country in
per capita drug arrests and prison sentences.

While the plan may not revolve around jail, those who flunk out of
treatment under current law do face sentencing and a potential prison
sentence of one to three years.

Pouring in some $3 million, a trio of justice system reformers New York
financier George Soros, Cleveland insurance executive Peter Lewis, and
University of Phoenix president John Sperling are bankrolling Prop. 36.
Backers cover the ideological spectrum, ranging from staunch Reaganite
George Schultz to lefty L.A. congressperson Maxine Waters, with defense
lawyers, rehab centers, and medical groups making up a good chunk of the
endorsement list.

While West Wing star Martin Sheen is the public face of the No on Prop. 36
campaign, underwriting for the effort comes from the cops-and-courts lobby,
notably the prison guards union, narcotics officers, and prosecutors in
short, the same people who brought you "Three Strikes, You're Out" and
Proposition 21.

Most bigwig Dems and GOP-sters are dogging Prop. 36 no surprise given our
Dirty Harry political climate but the most damaging criticism has been
leveled by judges and doctors working in existing drug courts.

The 107 drug courts that have sprung up across the state over the past six
years mix rehab with justice, pushing offenders to get clean and sober.

Judges say the initiative will supplant the much lauded courts with an
unworkable system that doesn't give the bench enough discretion.

"To work effectively with substance abusers, we should increase the
resources for something that works, rather than trying something we know
will fail," said Santa Clara County Judge Stephen Manley, who heads the
California Association of Drug Court Professionals.

The proposed law allows judges to impose jail or prison time only after a
subject has flunked out of two treatment programs or committed a nondrug
offense.

"It would tie judges' hands," said Dr. Davida Coady, an M.D. with
Berkeley's drug court. "The problem with a badly addicted person is you
have to get their attention.

If you don't have the threat of incarceration, it's been well documented
that you lose two-thirds of the people who you could get clean and sober."

Prop. 36 foes like Coady are misrepresenting the measure, says campaign
chief Dave Fratello, who points out that offenders who fail out of
treatment under the proposed law still face hard time in state prison. "Our
opponents would love to get the message to voters that there's no teeth in
the measure," Fratello told us.

Responding to the judicial slams, Prop. 36 backers point to the limited
reach of the current drug courts, saying they handle only 5 percent of
eligible defendants. "It's a system created by and for judges and
prosecutors," Fratello said. "They reach a tiny number of people."