Pubdate: Mon, 16 Oct 2000 Source: Ventura County Star (CA) Copyright: 2000, Ventura County Star Contact: P.O. Box 6711, Ventura CA 93006 Fax: (805) 650-2950 Website: http://www.staronline.com/ Author: Tom Kisken LOCAL OFFICIALS WORRY PROP 36 WOULD FLOOD PROBATION SYSTEM Predicting Proposition 36 would flush away drug-testing and flood the probation system with new clients, Ventura County criminal justice leaders say they're alarmed the initiative might be galvanizing voters' frustration with the status quo. The proposition would send drug possession offenders into probation and treatment instead of jail or prison. It provides $120 million for treatment programs and has been pitched as a way to address the core problems of drug abuse and save taxpayers the expense of incarcerating abusers. An August poll showed that 55 percent of the respondents favor the initiative -- to the concern of Cal Remington, Ventura County's chief probation officer. Last year, the Ventura County Sheriff's Department levied 3,139 charges on drug offenses. Though the proposition provides exceptions based on criminal past and the specifics of the offense, Remington believes too many of the offenders would be diverted to probation. "My fear is that there are going to be hundreds and hundreds of new people coming into the system. It could be thousands," Remington said. "Right now, I don't know how we get additional resources." One impact would be drug testing. Because the proposition does not provide any new testing funds, Remington said the increase in clients would swamp the budget. There wouldn't be enough money to test everyone. "The only way to tell how they're doing would be to ask them," said Superior Court Judge Barry Klopfer, who heads the county's drug court. "The last thing a person wants to do is be truthful about their use." But the initiative gives more offenders a chance, said Hal Chiprin, a 51-year-old Ventura resident who served 20 months in prison after being arrested on a methamphetamine charge on the Fourth of July several years ago. Campaigning for the initiative as part of a coalition of friends and family members of incarcerated drug offenders, Chiprin said he knows abusers who just keep rotating in and out of prison. "This would put someone into position where they would get the treatment they need," he said. "What we have now is definitely not working." Others in Ventura County who support the proposition say it's time to reform the costly and, in their minds, ineffective battle against drugs. They say addiction has to be perceived as a disease, not a crime. "If you put them into prison, are they going to change?" said Barbara Dobrin, a drug and alcohol counselor in Newbury Park, answering her own query. "They're going to get worse." Ask for opinions at an outlet mall and people, only vaguely familiar with Proposition 36, talked about the need to give judges discretion in handing down sentences but also talked about innovative solutions that go beyond simply getting tough on crime. "I go for decriminalization of nonviolent crimes," said David Morton, a Westlake Village electrical engineer. "Three strikes isn't working." Klopfer noted that the system already provides probation diversions for many offenders. In addition to a program for first-time offenders, the county has a drug court program for people with longer records. It has sent about 500 people into drug treatment over five years. About half the people complete the program and about 30 percent of the graduates have been arrested for subsequent crime. Comparatively, about 84 percent of the people who started but didn't complete the court-imposed program have been re-arrested. Klopfer, who worries that Proposition 36 could mean the end of drug court, said the program works in part because the judge, attorneys and probation officers have a say in determining who is ready for treatment and who isn't. The proposition would remove much of that discretion. If a person can't stay clean in any of the available treatment programs, the proposition allows for a hearing to decide whether probation should be revoked. As hammers go, observers said, it's not as big as current law, which provides for a more streamlined path to punishment. "The stick-and-carrot approach, crude though it may be, works," Remington said, suggesting the proposition doesn't "provide enough to hold (offenders') feet to the fire." The measure also has drawn opposition from Ventura County Sheriff Bob Brooks and Deputy District Attorney Richard Holmes who worry that it will be perceived as a get-out-of-jail free card. "It's a simplistic solution and we're a country famous for simplistic solutions," Holmes said. Leaders of private drug and alcohol treatment programs in Ventura County suggested that if the proposition passes, its success will be largely determined by incentive power. If participants believe that they'll end up in jail if they don't stay clean, the measure has a good chance at working. But if people think the law insulates them from prison, they'll probably fail treatment. "You can't just put in your time like at traffic school," said Dr. Dave Lewis, an addiction specialist and chief of staff at Anacapa Hospital in Port Hueneme. "You have to take this seriously." - --- MAP posted-by: Keith Brilhart