On April 9, some of the state’s 84,000 graduates of Proposition 36, California’s voter-approved, treatment-instead-of-incarceration program, will gather in Sacramento to celebrate seven years of success since the program was implemented in mid-2001. Join us! To learn more about the event, see the event flyer or contact Margaret Dooley-Sammuli. Check out the rally t-shirt here.

In early January, Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger announced dramatic plans to cut the state budget by 10% across the board in 2008-09. The good news is that the proposal does not single out California’s voter-approved, treatment-instead-of-incarceration program, Proposition 36, for cuts above this baseline level. The bad news is that, under the plan, Prop. 36 faces a 10% cut that would put the program at its lowest funding level ever. In a third year of funding shortfalls, the program would have only one thing left to cut—the quality and length of treatment it provides.
[read more]

DPA released a report this week documenting the successes of Proposition 36, the California initiative that mandates treatment instead of incarceration for most people convicted of nonviolent drug possession offenses. The report, entitled Proposition 36: Improving Lives, Delivering Results, found that Prop 36 had significant benefits for substance abuse treatment as well as reforms to the state's costly prison system.
[read more]