Drug offenders could fall through cracks in Calif. budget, getting neither treatment nor jail

Drug users may fall through cracks in budget

SACRAMENTO, Calif. — Thousands of California drug offenders could end up without treatment or jail time because of a clash between the state’s new budget and an initiative approved by voters nine years ago.

Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger and legislators slashed funding for drug programs to help close a $26.3 billion deficit this week.

Money for treatment programs has gone from $145 million three years ago to just $18 million for the current year.

Proposition 36, approved by 61 percent of voters in 2000, has diverted 36,000 nonviolent first- and second-time drug offenders a year from prisons and jails into treatment programs.

Officials say many addicts will now face long waits and inadequate treatment.

Such offenders cannot be sent to jail, even if diversion programs collapse for lack of money, said Margaret Dooley-Sammuli, deputy state director for the advocacy group Drug Policy Alliance. With certain individual exceptions, the law mandates that “any person convicted of a nonviolent drug possession offense shall receive probation.”

“The courts cannot incarcerate them because there is no treatment available to them,” said Dooley-Sammuli, whose organization promoted the initiative. “The law is clear.”

The group has successfully sued in the past to prevent offenders from being sent to jail, arguing incarceration would violate voters’ intent.

“That is a significant issue,” said Scott Thorpe, chief executive officer of the California District Attorneys Association. “Is it going to result in more people on the street without treatment?”

State officials want to use a federal grant, coupled with the $18 million in state money, to spend $63 million on diversion programs this year.

That is little more than half the $108 million the state spent last year, and little more than one-quarter of the $228 million that researchers at the University of California, Los Angeles recommended the state spend on treatment alternatives in 2007.

Counties already are so hard hit by the poor economy that officials are laying off sheriff’s deputies and cutting vital services. Now they must also try to find money for drug programs previously funded by the state.

“We do have to offer drug treatment in lieu of incarceration. It will mean longer waiting lists and they may not receive appropriate treatment,” said Kelly Brooks, a legislative representative with the California State Association of Counties. “You’re certainly going to shoot yourself in the foot on any success that we’ve had in getting people into drug-free lives and being productive citizens again.”

Susan Blacksher, executive director of the California Association of Addiction Recovery Resources, expects counties may wind up “just warehousing people” in outpatient programs without providing them enough services to make a difference.

“Without treatment, they’re certainly predicted to re-offend and eventually end up back in the criminal justice system,” said Blacksher, who represents addiction counselors and residential treatment facilities.

Along with the governor, 13 Republican legislators supported the omnibus budget bill containing the funding cut. They included several lawmakers who have earned a reputation for being tough on crime.

Republican leaders did not respond to requests for comment Thursday. But Assemblyman Jim Nielsen, R-Yuba City, who previously headed the state parole board, said he hopes to see more money restored for treatment.

“These are very severe times and you have to do things you don’t necessarily like to do,” Nielsen said of the budget cuts.

Sen. George Runner, R-Lancaster, who has authored several anti-crime ballot measures, wants to see another initiative overturning Proposition 36.

“Quite frankly, I’m glad to dismantle that program at any point,” Runner said.

Runner said the lack of treatment and jail time creates a dilemma, but he added that so few addicts complete programs that it won’t much matter.

UCLA researchers found a 32 percent completion rate for offenders sentenced to treatment instead of jail. But the researchers projected in their 2007 report that the state saves $4 for every $1 it spends on offenders who stay off drugs, get jobs and stop committing crimes.

Dooley-Sammuli fears prosecutors and judges will now look for ways to send offenders to jail if they know they won’t get treatment.

“Which makes no sense, particularly now when prisons and jails are full. It’s just sickening,” she said.