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Last year, California voters authorized the nation's biggest experiment in narcotics policy. It started July 1.
©Washington Post
© St. Petersburg Times, published August 15, 2001
LOS ANGELES -- In a dreary courtroom, Crystal Davis shuffled her slippered feet, rearranged her shackles and mumbled to the judge, "Yes, your honor," as she pleaded guilty to possession of 0.02 grams -- a crumb -- of cocaine.
In a few hours, Davis would be free from county jail. Instead of serving months or years behind bars, the 29-year-old crack cocaine user would be ordered to attend five to 10 hours a week of group therapy, individual counseling and 12-step study classes.
California, known for its strict three-strikes penalties and its prison construction binge, has made a U-turn in the war on drugs: The felons are now patients.
Despite widespread opposition by the state's political leadership, voters last year passed Proposition 36, and starting July 1, all people convicted of simple drug use or drug possession -- even for the hardest substances, such as heroin and cocaine -- were no longer sent to jail, but released and offered drug treatment.
An estimated 36,000 drug users a year, and perhaps more, will be diverted from jail to treatment, enough to delay construction of at least two state prisons.
The money saved on incarceration will be spent on rehabilitation, so for the first time, money will be available for treatment on demand, about $120-million annually.
Though drugs certainly haven't been legalized in California, drug users essentially have been decriminalized.
With the exception of Arizona, which in 1998 passed a similar measure requiring treatment instead of jail, no state has more lenient drug use and drug possession laws than California. While other states and cities have adopted "drug courts," where some drug offenders are diverted from jail to treatment, the California experiment is being played out on a grand scale.
"It's a complete revolution," said Dave Fratello, an author of Proposition 36. "We've changed the way drug abusers are seen by the system. Before, some people got some treatment. Now, everybody gets treatment, even the most hopeless cases."
No one knows how successful Crystal Davis or any of the other tens of thousands of convicted drug users will be. Critics of Proposition 36 worry that the already overtaxed criminal justice system and community treatment centers will be overwhelmed, that committed addicts will resist help and abuse their freedom, and that too little money has been appropriated for such things as drug testing or residential treatment.
The experiment will be closely watched, as the backers of Proposition 36 are working to put similar proposals before voters in Florida, Ohio, Michigan and Missouri. Support for the measures has come from three wealthy men: financier George Soros, University of Phoenix founder John Sperling and insurer Peter Lewis.
An examination of the implementation of Proposition 36 in Los Angeles, which has the most addicts in the state, is revealing.
Davis was arrested for possessing cocaine while on probation for an earlier drug conviction, the possession of a crack pipe. A presentence report written by the probation office before Proposition 36 took effect recommended that Davis, who has a long criminal record of drug charges, be sent to prison.
Her attorney, public defender John Alan, assumed that before Proposition 36, his client would have been sentenced to a minimum of six months in county jail. "She probably would not have gotten the maximum, but you never know," Alan said.
Los Angeles County Superior Court Commissioner Ronald Rose, who presided over her case, said a defendant such as Davis, with a long history of drug convictions and a demonstrated unwillingness to pursue treatment, would have gotten jail time, perhaps even a year or two in prison.
Rose ordered Davis and two other drug defendants to appear at the Homeless Health Care center near downtown Los Angeles within 24 hours to meet with their probation officer and undergo evaluation for appropriate treatment. Davis will be on probation for three years and will likely be ordered, after evaluations, to undergo outpatient drug treatment for nine months.
"All three of you are going to be released," Rose told them. "The odds are that one of you isn't going to make it, and then you'll be going to state prison." Then they were led away, due back in court in three weeks to have their progress evaluated.
A report done for the California Legislature last year estimated that 36,000 people would be diverted from jails to treatment each year under Proposition 36. But that number might prove to be conservative.
A task force assembled to implement Proposition 36 estimated that 14,000 to 20,000 offenders in Los Angeles County alone would be eligible for treatment.
So the county arranged for 18 judges to hear nothing but Proposition 36 cases. Defendants are eligible if they have committed no violent crimes in the past five years. If they are convicted of drug use or possession, they are released and placed on probation, usually for three years.
First they attend a Community Assessment Service Center and go into treatment.
Before Proposition 36 became law, many worried that the treatment centers would be overwhelmed, but that hasn't been the case in Los Angeles. The centers are busier, and scrambling to hire more counselors, but they're managing their growing caseload.
If the convicted users fail to stay sober, the court gives them another chance. If they fail again, they get another chance. The third time, they can be sent to jail or prison.
Crucial to the treatment, say the judges, probation officers and many counselors, is money for repeated, random drug testing -- funds that haven't yet been appropriated.
"Trust only takes you so far. Then you want to test them. A lot," said Ken Bachrach, clinical director at the Tarzana Treatment Center. "That is what this program is. Treatment. Treatment takes time. People screw up. They fail. They try again. The public should understand. They need to be patient. Because this is addiction."