(Photo: Former addict Elon Burns thinks jailing non-violent drug abusers is a mistake. Kenny Goldberg/KPBS News )
When California voters approved Prop 36 eight years ago, the state began an experiment: it offered treatment to non-violent drug offenders instead of jail. Since then, more than 200,000 people have taken advantage of the opportunity. Prop 5 on the November ballot aims to expand this program to more drug offenders. KPBS Health Reporter Kenny Goldberg has the story.
Elon Burns used to do a lot of drugs. And he paid a heavy price for it.
Burns did his first stint in the San Diego County jail for drug possession when he was 19. He served time again at 21. When he was 24 he was back in County jail.
After he violated probation, Burns was sent to state prison for 19 months.
Elon Burns: I hadn't hurt anybody, I hadn't stole from anybody, I hadn't done anything, you know, marijuana, for God's sake, you know what I mean. I was trapped in this addiction thing, and I wasn't a danger to society.
Burns says each time he was brought into court, a judge threatened to put him behind bars if he didn't clean up his act.
Burns: I was scared of prison, I was scared to go to jail before I went, but it was never enough to curb my behavior. The addiction to the drugs takes over. And worse off, when you get there, and you learn to adapt in there, it becomes part of your routine. And especially since people are doin' drugs in there, I mean, it's not like you're puttin' 'em somewhere safe, you know.
California prisons are filled with tens of thousands of people who've been convicted of drug-related crimes. Since it took effect in 2001, Prop 36 has tried a different approach.
The measure gives non-violent drug offenders three tries at treatment, before they can be sent to jail.
Prop 5 on the November ballot would greatly expand the program. It calls for the state to spend nearly half-a-billion dollars a year on drug treatment and rehabilitation.
Margaret Dooley-Samuli is with the Yes on 5 campaign.
She says the measure would offer residential treatment to more hard-core addicts who need it. And it would increase treatment opportunities inside prisons.
Margaret Dooley-Samuli: Prop 5 is about investing in treatment and rehabilitation so that we get people into treatment, we use the appropriate carrots and sticks to keep them there, to keep them successful. Sometimes that's gonna mean jail. And in Prop 5, judges have that option.
But only after an offender tests dirty four times. Critics say that's a fatal flaw.
Bonnie Dumanis: When you have treatment that has no accountability, then people are set up for failure, in essence, because they will continue to use drugs, when they know there are no consequences.
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(Photo: San Diego County’s District Attorney Bonnie Dumanis thinks Prop 5 is a bad idea.
Kenny Goldberg/KPBS
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Bonnie Dumanis is San Diego County's District Attorney.
She agrees drug offenders need treatment. But Dumanis prefers to see them go to Drug Court, where a judge can jail a defendant after only one dirty test.
She says Prop 5 is too lenient.
Dumanis: This just allows people that have a drug addiction that commit crimes, to recycle over and over in the criminal justice system, until we finally lock 'em up for a long period of time.
Dooley-Samuli says critics don't understand the nature of addiction.
Dooley-Samuli: People will relapse. And that's why you can't kick people out of the program at one relapse. If you did, you wouldn't see success. We recognize that when we see people try to quit smoking and fail.
So how successful is Prop 36?
Researchers at UCLA have done a series of evaluations.
Dr. Richard Rawson is associate director of UCLA's Integrated Substance Abuse Programs.
He says it was assumed most Prop 36 offenders would be low-level drug users. But as it turns out, most offenders have had an average of ten years of drug abuse.
Even so, Rawson says about a third of those who've entered Prop 36 treatment have completed it.
Dr. Richard Rawson: I'm an addiction researcher. I look at these kinds of numbers all day long, on all different kinds of populations. A 33 percent or a 35 percent good outcome for this population is excellent.
What's more, Rawson says the state has saved about two dollars in incarceration costs for every dollar spent on Prop 36.
But Bonnie Dumanis thinks Prop 36 has been a dismal failure. And she says Prop 5 would be even worse.
Dumanis: I may not run for district attorney if it passes. It is going to devastate the public safety in the state of California.
Regardless of whether voters approve Prop 5, federal officials are considering alternatives to prison for non-violent drug users.
The U.S. Sentencing Commission is drafting a proposal for Congress.
Kenny Goldberg, KPBS News.
