CUT DRUG PENALTIES TO SAVE LIVES, MONEY, OFFICIALS URGE: SENATORS,
COUNCILMAN BACK BALLOT PROPOSAL

Three state senators and a Sacramento City Council member came out in
support Wednesday of a proposed ballot initiative that would drastically
reduce criminal penalties for drug users.

State Senate President Pro Tempore John Burton, D-San Francisco, endorsed
the measure along with fellow Democrats John Vasconcellos of Santa Clara and
Richard Polanco of Los Angeles. Joining the senators was Sacramento City
Councilman Dave Jones.

"It's like a grand slam," Vasconcellos said of the measure at a news
conference on the Capitol steps. "You save money. You save lives. You
improve public safety. Altogether, it's just smart. It's common sense."

Initiative backers also claim the endorsements of several other Democratic
lawmakers, including Sens. Tom Hayden of Los Angeles, Don Perata of Alameda
and Hilda Solis of El Monte; and Assembly members Darrell Steinberg of
Sacramento, Sheila Kuehl of Santa Monica, Marco Firebaugh of Los Angeles,
John Longville of Rialto, Kerry Mazzoni of Novato, Virginia Strom-Martin of
Duncan Mills and Rod Wright of Los Angeles.

The state Legislative Analyst's Office has estimated that, if the measure
qualifies for November's statewide ballot and passes, it would save
California taxpayers hundreds of millions of dollars in prison operation and
construction costs. But the initiative is drawing strong opposition from law
enforcement groups that contend it would provide a get-out-of-jail-free card
to tens of thousands of drug users whose habits present significant crime
problems.

"No one objects to drug treatment," said Larry Brown, the executive director
of the California District Attorneys Association. "But this seeks to
straitjacket our approach to treating drug offenders in California."

In California, some 20,000 people are in state prisons and another 17,000 in
county jails for possession of drugs, according to proponents of the
initiative who bill it as the Substance Abuse and Crime Prevention Act of
2000. The proponents say the measure would reduce crime by getting drug
offenders into treatment programs that would be expanded with an added $120
million provided by the initiative.

Opponents say that almost everybody who is serving time on a drug possession
offense has at least one prior felony conviction. Jeff Thompson, a lobbyist
for the California Correctional Peace Officers Association, cited a 1990
Department of Corrections study which found that inmates imprisoned on drug
possession charges have an average of 4.1 prior felony convictions each.

The drug initiative is modeled, in part, on a ballot measure approved by
Arizona voters in 1998. Proponents of the California measure cited an
Arizona Supreme Court study concluding the state saved $2.5 million in
incarceration costs in the first year the measure was implemented.

Some Arizona law enforcement officials, however, have disputed that figure.
They say the study calculated as savings the costs of incarcerating some
drug offenders who would not have been jailed or imprisoned under sentencing
guidelines in place before the measure became law.