PROP. 36 STUDY SHOWS FLAWS, POLICE SAY

A UCLA Study Evaluating The Law Concerning Drug Treatment Programs
Highlights Its Failings

NORTHEAST GLENDALE -- A UCLA study evaluating a California law that assigns
drug treatment to first- and second-time nonviolent narcotics offenders
instead of sending them to prison shows the proposition's lack of success,
local police say.

"There are more drug offenders on the streets post-Prop. 36 then before
Prop. 36, and this translates to public safety," said Glendale Capt. Lief
Nicolaisen, with the department's investigative services.

That is consistent with a study released Monday by UCLA evaluating the
initiative that passed in the 2000 election, which reported that only about
25% of all offenders successfully completed treatment programs referred
through the legislation.

Before Proposition 36, California used a system of drug courts, where a
judge would have the opportunity to jail offenders if they were not
sticking to a drug treatment program, Nicolaisen said.

But Proposition 36 changed all that.

"One of the valuable tools used by the drug courts was fear of
incarceration," Nicolaisen said. "In Prop. 36, the threat of incarceration
is not there."

Relaxed laws, like Proposition 36, could reflect poorly on the Glendale
community, Nicolaisen said.

"In dealing with people with substance abuse problems, before they clean up
their act, they've got to hit bottom," Nicolaisen. "As we soften the fall,
the incentive to really clean up their act diminishes. The threat of jail
really is a strong motivator."

Nicolaisen, a believer in the drug court system, which proved a 55% success
rate, according to a study by the California Department of Alcohol and Drug
programs, said that offenders could misinterpret the lax system as a lack
of order within the community.

"As we become less effective in treatment of narcotics, we tolerate greater
disorder in the community," he said. "And from that, criminal activity flows."

Along with the inability to assign jail time to first- and second-time
offenders, however, a lack of funding could also be a reason why the
legislation has not been more effective, said Judge Ana Maria Luna,
chairwoman of the Proposition 36 implementation task force in Los Angeles
County.

"It's keeping them in treatment that seems to be a problem," Luna said.
"What we don't have in L.A. County is a case manager to assist these folks
with all their needs."

California distributed $120 million in statewide funds, about $30 million
of which went to Los Angeles County, under the legislation.

But that is not enough to help offenders with transportation and housing
needs, or high-risk population issues -- those offenders who, in addition
to an addiction, also suffer from mental health conditions.

"We're at least $50 million short statewide to give these services," Luna said.

But Luna also recognized the importance of having the opportunity to send
offenders to jail, if needed.

"We need more availability of options to motivate them through a treatment
program better," she said. "We think we could get better outcome results
through jail-based sanction."

Legislators are looking at Senate Bill 803, which would amend Proposition
36 and reintroduce jail time to drug offenders.

"This puts a little of a stick in the law to allow bench officers to
motivate offenders through incarceration," Luna said.

Still, supporters of Proposition 36 think otherwise.

"We try to be evidence-based, and no one has been able to produce a study
that shows jailing people during a treatment makes them more likely to
complete," said Dave Fratello, co-author of Proposition 36.

"We're going to focus the resources on treatment," he said of the
legislation, which makes it extremely difficult to jail an offender.

In Glendale, when drug offenders are arrested for possession and use, their
cases are referred to the District Attorney's Office, which then assesses
whether the case is a Proposition 36 divertible case.

"We can love these people to death, and be doing them more harm than good,"
Nicolaisen said. "The more they're able to continue down that path of
certain destruction, the worse."