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Forty Percent Fail Prop 36 Pilot Program

July 22, 2001 – Prior to the date (July 1) that California's Proposition 36 would become effective, some
700 defendants were placed on probation and in treatment programs in an Orange County pilot program designed to test how the proposition would work.

Forty percent – 300 people – failed to complete treatment. Some stopped attending meetings. Others started using drugs again. Others were arrested on new drug charges.

California voters passed Prop. 36 in November 2000. The initiative prohibits judges from sending "non-violent drug offenders" to jail for their first two offenses, and for a maximum of 30 days on their third offense. Instead, they are automatically placed on parole and sent to treatment programs, but without the intense monitoring drug courts employ to ensure offenders complete treatment.

Prop. 36 allocates $120 million a year for treatment. But because it specifically prohibits the use of any of that money for drug testing, the failure rate may be even higher. It is unclear whether Orange County drug-tested pilot program participants. Full story.

A two-part investigative report conducted by the Sacramento Bee shows how far the state has to go to provide real treatment to the estimated 36,000 people Prop. 36 will add to the 214,000 people California treats every year. In fact, the demand for treatment now is so great that some 5,000 people are placed on waiting lists every month.

Moreover, California has fallen behind other states in terms of lax regulations, standards for counselors, and drug treatment and program licensing and certification, the Bee found. "Outpatient treatment can consist of just two counseling sessions a month."

The newspaper found instances where "drug counselors and administrators. . .used illegal drugs themselves, supplied illicit substances to the people they were supposed to treat, and had sex with their clients."
Full Story, Part 1, Part 2

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