STUDY FINDS ARIZONA DRUG LAW AVOIDS MILLIONS IN PRISON COSTS

PHOENIX (Associated Press) - Arizona avoided millions of dollars in prison
costs through a voter-approved 1996 law that requires that some drug
offenders be placed on probation and provided treatment rather than locked
up, a new study concludes.

The sponsors of a similar California law that took effect in July applauded
the results as an example of what can be expected as the treatment
initiative diverts thousands of drug offenders from the nation's largest
prison system.

"Arizona has the most experience with a law that grants a right to
treatment instead of jail, and the state continues to have positive
results," said Dave Fratello, who managed the campaign for California's
Proposition 36, approved by voters in November 2000.

Fratello's Campaign for New Drug Policies is encouraging similar
initiatives in other states if California's effort succeeds.

Arizona spent $1 million in 1999 to treat and supervise 390 inmates kept
out of prison by the 1996 law, while it would have cost $7.7 million to
imprison them, the study said.

That called, called Proposition 102 on the November 2002 ballot, focused on
diverting nonviolent drug offenders from the prison system into community
treatment programs. The new study by the state Administrative Office of the
Courts reviewed probation and treatment costs of 5,385 probationers who
participated in the state-funded substance-use treatment program.

Of them, 1,246, 23 percent, were sentenced to probation under Proposition 102.

Only 390 of the 1,246 would have gone to prison without Proposition 102,
because many violators already avoided prison sentences, the study showed.

The study said 2,719 probationers had ended treatment as of June 30, 1999,
82 percent of whom complied with treatment requirements and 38 percent who
did not.

Passage of Proposition 102 meant the "valuable tool" of offering voluntary
participation in treatment programs is not available to law enforcement
officials trying to deal with offenders who refuse treatment, the report said.

Proposition 102 requires treatment rather than time behind bars for those
convicted for the first or second time of being under the influence of
drugs or possessing drugs for personal use. The state Supreme Court
recently ruled that the law also covers possession of drug paraphernalia
for personal use.

The initiative provides funding for treatment. Money not required for
treatment of offenders sentenced under Proposition 102 is available for
treatment of other offenders, and the study said the state spent $3.5
million for treatment on those offenders in 1999.