JUDGES, OTHERS ASSAIL DRUG DIVERSION INITIATIVE

Foes Say Prop. 36 Has No Threat Of Jail

Calling it bad medicine for drug addicts, county judges, lawyers and public
health providers at a drug task force meeting last week lined up against a
state ballot initiative that would divert drug users from jails to treatment.

Given the setting -- the quarterly meeting of the Methamphetamine Strike
Force -- perhaps that was not surprising.

But the two-hour discussion of Proposition 36 also included vigorous
advocacy of the measure from two supporters who contended that it would
treat more drug addicts than get treatment now.

Proposition 36 would provide up to $120 million a year for treatment for
nonviolent first-and second-time drug offenders. A poll released late last
month showed 55 percent of voters supporting the measure.

But San Diego Superior Court Judge Bonnie Dumanis, who helped establish the
county's drug court system, said passage would be a bad idea. Dumanis and
other judges say that the measure is missing a vital component present in
the current drug courts: the ability of judges to throw addicts into jail
if drug tests turn up positive.

Dumanis said the specter of "swift, sure sanctions" is a key to getting
addicts to stay clean and sober.

She described the measure as a stalking horse for a larger goal:
decriminalization of drugs.

That description was rebutted by Bill Zimmerman, campaign director for the
California Campaign for New Drug Policies, chief sponsor of the initiative.

Zimmerman said the initiative would not dilute drug courts and instead
would set up a "parallel system" of drug treatment that could reach
thousands more offenders. He said judges still could jail offenders who
failed drug treatment several times.

Zimmerman accused drug court judges across the state of being in an "unholy
alliance" with the prison guards union and an association of state
narcotics officers to defeat the measure.

Those two groups are chief bankrollers of the opposition. Proponents are
counting on the deep pockets of multibillionaire financier George Soros, a
leading advocate of drug policies that emphasize rehabilitation over
incarceration; and of two multimillionaire drug policy reformers.

Also opposing the measure Friday were Deputy District Attorney Lori Koster,
who coordinates the drug court program for the District Attorney's Office;
and county public health officials. Koster said drug treatment is not
effective without the threat of jail.

The county's drug courts deal with nonviolent offenders arrested on drug
possession charges. A yearlong program requires participants to plead
guilty to all charges against them and then go through a regimen of regular
testing, counseling and drug rehabilitation. Failure can result in an
immediate trip to jail.

Officials say the program works and that about 15 percent of those admitted
to the program relapse and fail. The program is highly selective.

Fewer than 2 percent of people arrested on drug charges in the county last
year were admitted, Zimmerman said.

County Public Defender Steve Carroll complained that the program is not
expansive enough and that prosecutors reject many candidates, such as gang
members.

But Carroll said he opposes the initiative because it would exclude from
treatment some people arrested on a drug charge plus another misdemeanor
charge not related to drugs. He also said financing the proposal would
drain money from other programs.