WEST WING STAR TRIES TO SWAY VOTERS ON DRUG PROPOSITION

Actor Martin Sheen, Whose Son Charlie Has Been Addicted To Drugs, Fights A California Proposal That Would Make Treatment, Not Jail, The Primary Response To Illegal Drug Use

LOS ANGELES - This November, television's favorite president, The West Wing's Martin Sheen, will test his star status when voters in California decide whether to end imprisonment for most users of illegal drugs.

Proposition 36, the Substance Abuse and Crime Prevention Act, asks Californians to make treatment, and not prison, the state's primary response to illegal drug use.

This week in Long Beach, opponents of the proposition gathered at a Summit for a Drug Free California organized by proposition opponents, including the California Narcotics Officers Association.

And this being Hollywood they billed as a "sneak preview" a commercial to air in this state, "No on Prop 36, No on Drug Abuse" with Sheen as spokesman. In the commercial he appears in an open-collared, pale blue shirt and speaks directly to the camera in his famous voice:

"Proposition 36 essentially decriminalizes hard drugs like heroin, crack cocaine - even date-rape drugs. This dangerous initiative hurts California's drug courts - opening the door to fly-by-night treatment with no accountability....We all want to stop drug abuse, but Proposition 36 isn't the answer."

Proposition 36 asks California voters to endorse probation and treatment, not jail time, for the possession, use and transportation of controlled substances.

The legislation that approval of the proposition would bring in would impose prison terms for the manufacture and sale of controlled substances. The legislation would not spare from jail the users of illegal drugs who have been convicted, in the previous five years, of a violent or serious crime. It also would not spare the treatment-centre participant who fails treatment; it imposes jail time of one to three years.

The proposition's proponent, the California Campaign for New Drug Policies, is comprised of the same reform strategists who persuaded Californians to pass Proposition 215, a measure that decriminalized the use of marijuana if it is used for medical purposes.

The proposition's opposition consider it a "Trojan horse" that would legalize the use of street drugs, in at least one state of the union.

Dave Fratello, manager of the California Campaign for New Drug Policies, disagrees. "That comment just shows what a terrible debate we have in this country about drugs. It presents a false choice between legalizing drugs versus an all-out drug war."

An important arrow in the quiver of proposition proponents is fiscal. The proposition would direct $120 million US annually into drug-treatment programs, spending which would produce a net saving of between $100 million and $150 million annually in prison expenses.

Proponents of the proposition estimate that full drug-rehabilitation treatment would cost about $4,300 an individual; it now costs $23,406 a year to imprison a criminal in California. Says Fratello: "When you're talking about spending $120 million in the system and that this initiative saves money that's positive."

Another potentially wounding arrow in their quiver is laced with class antagonism and reflects the unequal distribution of the benefits from the economic boom California is experiencing. Proposition champions have taken out a full page advertisement in The Hollywood Reporter under the heading "Why is Martin Sheen trying to limit drug treatment so that only the rich can get it?" The text criticizes the actor for coming between minorities and the middle class and the drug-rehabilitation treatment received by his son Charlie.

Martin Sheen's opposition to the proposition no doubt arose from this family ordeal. As he told reporters: "I've seen how devastating drug addiction can be. If I can help other families avoid the pain and heartache it causes, then I will have made a real contribution."

Marcella Wess, a 37-year-old former drug addict, is with Sheen because she thinks Proposition 36 is a public-safety menace. "The only people this is going to help is people who want to continue doing drugs. With Proposition 36, no sanctions means it's a user's dream and a dealer's pie in the sky."

A Los Angeles drug court judge shares that opinion. "Unless the defendant is a threat to society or unamenable to treatment, my hands are tied," Judge Michael Tynan said at the Long Beach gathering. "Even on 'three strikes you're out,' the most a user can get is 30 days."