Pubdate: Sun, 10 Jun 2001 Source: Sacramento Bee (CA) Copyright: 2001 The Sacramento Bee Contact: http://www.sacbee.com/ Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/376 Author: Ed Fletcher BATTLE ON OVER DRUG-TREATMENT FUNDS Backers of a drug-treatment measure that won voter approval in November are challenging cuts in treatment programs proposed by Gov. Gray Davis, including a move to slice funding for state drug courts nearly in half. The proposed cuts by the governor come in the wake of the passage of Proposition 36, which mandates that nonviolent drug offenders be put into treatment programs instead of prison. The initiative was approved with 61 percent of the vote. "These budget cuts seem to fly in the face of what California voters want and supported in the November election," said Bill Zimmerman, executive director of the Campaign for New Drug Policies in Santa Monica and campaign manager for Proposition 36. Zimmerman said the cuts may violate provisions of the voter-approved initiative set to become law July 1. Davis' office said the cuts reflect a tight budget year and noted that, as required by Proposition 36, new money would go to treatment programs. "A budget is a budget, and you have to make it balance," said Hilary McLean, a Davis spokeswoman. The programs are still being funded at a "significant" level despite the "belt-tightening budget," McLean said. The May revision of Davis' budget proposal calls for cuts of $5.7 million, or 14 percent, for youth treatment services and $7.7 million, or 1.4 percent, for adult treatment services. It would cut funding for drug court treatment programs by $8.5 million. California at present spends $18 million a year for the drug courts, which divert about 5 percent of the state's eligible addicts into treatment in lieu of prison. McLean said the cuts are small in comparison to the overall size of the state budget. But Zimmerman argues that the cuts may be a violation of Proposition 36, which he said calls for spending $120 million on drug treatment programs, and says the money should not be used to replace existing funds. "We intended that $120 million be used in addition to the existing (money)," he said. "I would say there is some potential that the governor's budget is in violation of the provisions of Prop. 36. We are going to look at these cuts and, if there are violations, we'll see what remedies exist in the courts." If the cuts stay, Proposition 36 money would not directly replace the money Davis proposes to cut, drug treatment advocates say. Proposition 36 specifically applies to nonviolent adult offenders and would not affect youth offenders. "It doesn't make sense to cut funds from (a) proposed youth treatment program because Prop. 36 does not include youth," said Susan Blacksher, executive director of California Association of Addition Recovery Resources. Blacksher said she understands that this is a tight budget year, but said: "Any cuts to drug and alcohol treatment hurt." Funds for drug courts should also be left whole, said Toni Moore, Sacramento County's alcohol and drug administrator. "It's critical not to decrease funding for drug court," said Moore, who said not all drug offenders will be eligible for treatment under Proposition 36. In particular, offenders arrested for non-drug-related crimes, such as simple burglary or prostitution, at the same time as their arrest on drug possession would be ineligible for treatment under Prop. 36, Moore said. Since addiction is often the motivating factor behind these offenders' other crimes, she argued, they too need to be treated. Advocates said Davis' move also runs counter to a recent report by the state Legislative Analyst's Office, which found that treatment programs are cost-effective but very underfunded. Funding for state treatment programs would need to nearly double -- an annual increase of $330 million -- in order to treat all Californians likely to seek help if treatment were more widely available, the report said. An additional $63 million would be needed just to treat those now on county waiting lists, the report said. The programs offer services to people like Sandy Alexander, 48, who after 26 years of on-and-off drug and alcohol dependency recently checked herself into a Sacramento treatment center. "I have to believe that this is it," Alexander said, once again hopeful that this time she will be clean for good. Alexander's trouble with drugs and alcohol began at age 15. Since then, she has spent time in juvenile hall and jail but says she has never been offered or been forced into drug treatment. A drug-induced, near-fatal auto accident helped spur Alexander into treatment, she said. She said she called every Sacramento treatment center every day for two weeks before one found room for her. "If I didn't get some kind of treatment soon, I thought I might kill myself," she said. - --- MAP posted-by: Beth