TREATMENT PROGRAM ADMISSIONS INCREASE

Admissions to drug treatment programs in five California counties
climbed sharply since voters decided three years ago that first-time
non-violent drug offenders should not go to prison, according to a
tracking study being released today.

Drug programs are having difficulty with offenders with multiple or
severe problems, the University of California-Los Angeles study found.

The first-year study published in the journal Evaluation Review does
not draw conclusions about the success of treatment programs in
preventing future crime or drug abuse.

The goal of the five-year study funded by the National Institute on
Drug Abuse is to identify how best to treat offenders who would have
been sent to prison or jail had voters not approved Proposition 36 in
November 2000. The initiative took effect in July 2001.

The only major county without an increase was San Francisco, which had
an extensive diversion program and prosecution policy before the
statewide initiative.