BALLOT MEASURES--THE FEW BUT THE MIGHTY EMOTIONAL

Debate already begun on initiative to keep drug users out of
prison. School vouchers plan also controversial.

SACRAMENTO -- Nonviolent drug offenders would be diverted from the
state's overcrowded prisons and into treatment under a controversial
initiative that California voters will decide on this fall.

The measure, which has already spawned spirited charges about its
potential effects, would trigger the biggest shift in criminal justice
policy since state voters passed the three-strikes sentencing law in
1994. It also could provoke a national debate over drug policy.

The drug measure is one of five that have qualified for the Nov. 7
ballot.

A sixth, which would reform the way political campaigns are financed
in California, could be added by the Legislature next week.

Endorsements Start Popping Up

The most passionately contested initiatives are likely to be the one
addressing drug offenders and the one proposing a school voucher
system. Fund-raising is well underway on those, and dueling
endorsements are popping up daily.

An initiative backed by business would reclassify certain government
fees as taxes and require a two-thirds vote of the Legislature or
local government for their approval.

Another would ease restrictions on the use of private contractors for
government public works projects.

And one would reduce the threshold needed for the passage of local
school bonds from a two-thirds requirement to a 55% vote.

The lineup for the fall is paltry compared to the dizzying array of
measures--20 in all--that crowded California's March primary ballot.

Still, initiative advocates will face stiff competition for voters'
attention this election season--namely, the campaign to choose the
next American president. There also is a U.S. Senate race between
Democratic incumbent Dianne Feinstein and GOP Rep. Tom Campbell of San
Jose.

Dubbed the Substance Abuse and Crime Prevention Act, the initiative
seeking to reroute drug addicts away from prison and into treatment
already has spawned heated debate.

Backers say the measure would free up prison beds for violent
offenders while giving drug addicts the help they need to lead
productive lives. Violent offenders or those who deal or manufacture
drugs would be excluded from the diversion track.

A study by the nonpartisan legislative analyst's office predicted that
the initiative would divert as many as 37,000 offenders and parolees
into treatment each year, saving up to $200 million annually in court,
prison and jail costs. An additional $575 million could be saved
because a decline in the inmate population would let the state avoid
building a new prison.

"You save money, you save lives, and you treat drug addiction as a
medical problem, not a crime," said state Sen. John Vasconcellos
(D-Santa Clara). "We ought to deal with people in ways that help them
rather than ways that persecute them and cause them more grief and
pain."

Opponents, a who's who of law enforcement groups, call the measure a
"get out of jail free card" for drug felons--and a step down the road
toward the legalization of drugs. The powerful prison guards' union
already has promised to spend heavily to defeat it.

Drug War Opposition Helen Harberts, chief probation officer in Butte
County, called the initiative "bad law badly written, a nightmare of
loopholes and changes in criminal law standards."

Harberts warned that if passed, the measure would undermine
spectacular results being obtained through legitimate treatment
programs authorized by various "drug courts" throughout the state.

"The way this is written, 'treatment' could consist of nothing more
than a cassette tape," Harberts said. "I think it's a real fraud on
the addicts and their families."

Dave Fratello, a spokesman for the initiative campaign, said the
measure requires that treatment programs be certified and allows
counties to select which are suitable. "It has to be licensed, the
county has to decide it's worth spending money on, and the judge has
to refer the offender to it," Fratello said. "I think that gives the
lie to the notion that these will be fly-by-night, slipshod programs."

About 19,700 of the state's 160,000 prison inmates are serving time
for possession of illegal drugs. Tens of thousands more have some sort
of substance abuse problem, sustained by visiting relatives and even
some correctional officers who smuggle drugs into prisons and jails.

Under the diversion program, addicts who complete their treatment
could ask to have their convictions erased from the public record.
Those who flunk could be incarcerated by a judge.

Sponsors of the initiative, a group called the California Campaign for
New Drug Policies, are veterans of the successful push to pass the
1996 initiative allowing marijuana to be used for medicinal purposes.
Funding--including the $1 million it took to qualify the measure for
the ballot--comes primarily from three drug war opponents--New York
financier George Soros, Cleveland insurance magnate Peter Lewis and
John Sperling, founder of the University of Phoenix.

The measure is similar to a law passed in Arizona two years ago. An
Arizona Supreme Court study of that program found that in the first
year, 61% of participants successfully completed their treatment
program. More recently, officials said the success rate is as high as
80%.

In addition to the initiatives that have qualified for the November
ballot through petition drives, the Legislature can vote to place its
own measures before the electorate.

So far, it appears that only the campaign reform measure--which would
restrict contributions to candidates and create voluntary spending
limits--is likely to go before voters. It is vigorously opposed by
those who see it as an end run around Proposition 208, a tough
landmark reform initiative that was approved by voters but is stalled
in the courts.