Bolster the Drug Courts

On July 1, a heavy weight will fall on the shoulders of California judges: A measure requiring them to sentence most nonviolent drug offenders to substance abuse treatment instead of jail or prison becomes law. Proposition 36, which California voters approved last November, will make at least 20,000 defendants eligible for treatment in Los Angeles County alone. Judges will have to decide which treatment would be most useful and cost-effective for each of them.

Most counties have embraced a model for success--the state’s two existing “drug court” programs, which spend $18 million a year in diverting a few thousand addicts into treatment. The state legislative analyst found that one of the programs, the Drug Court Partnership, saved taxpayers more than half of its cost by keeping nonviolent drug offenders from occupying state prison beds. The study did not count potentially larger savings in keeping offenders out of hospitals and county jail cells.

State leaders should be bolstering drug courts so they can help guide Proposition 36 toward success. Unfortunately, the budget that Gov. Gray Davis submitted two months ago actually trims drug court funding by nearly half. This week the members of the Assembly/Senate budget committee have an opportunity to restore the full $18 million. They should seize it.