PROP. 36 BENEFITS 30,000

Study: Meth Users, Whites Helped Most

A university study of the state ballot measure diverting nonviolent
drug offenders to treatment found that methamphetamine users and
whites made up a majority of the 30,000 people sent to
rehabilitation.

Half who received treatment instead of jail under Proposition 36 were
arrested for using methamphetamine, while 15 percent were cocaine
users, according to UCLA researchers.

Twelve percent were marijuana users and 11 percent used heroin, the
researchers said.

Targeted at low-level nonviolent offenders, Proposition 36 was
implemented in San Bernardino County two years ago.

The measure allows first- and second-time nonviolent drug users to
receive treatment instead of jail.

People arrested for possession or being under the influence of drugs
may volunteer for the program and report to probation officers, who
refer them to treatment providers.

Judges have some leeway to decide who is eligible for the program,
which costs the state about $120 million a year.

Those who complete the program could have their arrests removed from
their records. Those who drop out are in violation of probation and
face jail time if they are caught.

Roughly 2,400 people in San Bernardino County have enrolled in drug
treatment under the proposition.

The county doesn't have numbers available yet on how many people
dropped out of the program, but officials said thousands of people are
being exposed to treatment who have never had the opportunity.

The report released Wednesday found about half who received treatment
were white, 31 percent were Latino, and 14 percent were black.

The state-commissioned study by the Integrated Substance Abuse
Programs at UCLA was the first independent analysis of the
proposition, which took effect July 2001.

Whitney Taylor of the Drug Policy Alliance, a national group that
backed the measure, noted that while whites seem to benefit most,
Latinos and blacks make up more than two-thirds of those sent to
prison on drug charges last year.

UCLA behavioral scientist and lead researcher Douglas Longshore said
more data were needed to determine the cause of any ethnic disparity
in how the program is applied.

Longshore said the report's results demonstrate the spread of
methamphetamine across the state.

"For several years now, the meth epidemic has been very real in
California,' he said. "Starting in the mid-1990s, the number of meth
users in treatment really skyrocketed here.''