Simi Valley police officials may not be happy with the terms of Proposition 36, but some county and state officials say the measure can be the saving grace in the state’s fight against drugs.

“The idea that Proposition 36 can hinder the fight against drugs is the exact opposite of what it can and should be doing in a county,” said Margaret Dooley, Proposition 36 statewide coordinator with the Drug Policy Alliance.

The drug rehabilitation option that California voters approved in 2000 lets nonviolent drug offenders choose to enter a treatment program rather than going to jail. According to officials with the California Department of Alcohol and Drug Programs, more than 30,000 state residents a year undergo drug rehabilitation under Proposition 36.

According to Joan Splinter, division manager with the Ventura County Probation Agency, Proposition 36 candidates are immediately sent to assessment centers after being identified by a judge as eligible for the program. These centers determine the level of treatment each person needs.

“People are assigned to a six-, 12 or 18month program depending on the severity of their condition,” Splinter said.

Ventura County contracts with three outpatient treatment centers that are state licensed and under the oversight of the County Department of Behavioral Science to conduct Proposition 36 programs.

Inpatient centers are available for those with severe drug addictions. Violators are given three opportunities to complete a rehab program and are referred back to the court for criminal proceedings if they fail to do so, according to Splinter.

“The threestrikes rule is a provision of the law that we don’t have any discretion over,” Splinter said. “I know there is a lot of frustration with law enforcement agencies in regards to Prop. 36 because offenders aren’t receiving the same sanctions they did before the measure was passed. This creates some problems for the street cops.”

The Ventura County Probation Agency uses Proposition 36dedicated officers to track offenders and to make sure that they complete treatment. The officers are funded with Prop. 36 money.

According to Dooley, the measure attacks addiction primarily from a public health perspective rather than a criminal justice approach.

“These are people that are addicted, and you have to ask, does it do any good to incarcerate people that have a medical condition or an illness?” Dooley said. “The goal of the police is to keep meth users off the street and to reduce the number of users, but just locking up drug offenders doesn’t work.”

Officials are quick to assert that the program benefits not just drug users but society as a whole.

“The program is beneficial to the individual who is going through treatment because it helps them to find jobs and stay sober. It also helps society by getting people off drugs and by saving the state money,” said Lisa Fisher, a spokesperson for the California Department of Alcohol and Drug Programs.

Because Proposition 36 covers all forms of drug addiction, supporters see it as offering a better success rate than programs that target a single type of drug.

“We have a lot of people that abuse meth in the state and for the last 40 years meth has been here. But we also have people struggling with addictions to alcohol, crack and cocaine, and Proposition 36 deals with all of these issues. When the next new drug rolls around, we’re going to have the same type of hysteria, but Proposition 36 has proven that addiction in general can be treated,” Dooley said.

While the proposition’s supporters are quick to tout the measure as one of the best weapons available in the fight against drugs, they’re also willing to admit there’s room for improvement.

Proposition 36 is a statewide program, using state money, but counties are in charge of overseeing their own local rehabilitation programs.

The state distributes the $120 million Proposition 36 budget to counties based on a formula that incorporates such factors as population, crime rates and number of people incarcerated. Once the money is distributed, the state has little say about how it is spent.

“It is state money, but the counties are allowed to use it as they want. The idea was that best practices would rise to the surface and be implemented across the state, but it could also be that the state just wanted to pass the buck along,” Dooley said.

According to Fisher, local control makes the program adaptable to different situations.

“The design of the program was such that the counties could implement the program based on the needs of a particular area,” she said.

The California Department of Alcohol and Drug Programs holds an annual conference in which the best practices from various counties are highlighted, but the state has no authority to force counties to implement practices or enforce guidelines, according to officials.

According to Dooley, one of the program’s biggest problems is the staffing shortage.

In many counties, once a person is referred to a Proposition 36 program, he or she is placed under the supervision of the county’s probation department.

Probation staffing shortages prevent the establishment of an active relationship between the offender and the case officer, and this often results in offenders slipping between the cracks, Dooley said.

“San Diego County is beginning to implement case managers, which are cheaper than probation officers and can be hired on the treatment side of the program rather than the enforcement side. These people can call and make sure that individuals are attending their meetings and getting the most out of the program,” Dooley said.

Earlier this year, Fisher said, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger gave the program an extra $20 million to find ways to increase accountability and benefits.

“There are different improvements that can be made, such as same-day assessment and referral for drug offenders. We’ve been encouraging best practices each year, and the counties are implementing them,” Fisher said.

While supporters continue to seek improvements to the program, they say it is a much better option than incarcerating nonviolent drug offenders.

“Proposition 36 is an intervention tool that helps people get into rehab. A lot of people don’t want to go to treatment, but they want to do treatment more than they want to go to jail,” Dooley said.