📢 Justice Alert: Prop. 36 over-promised on drug treatment. Could a little-known funding stream help foot the bill?

Last year’s Proposition 36, which increased penalties on certain drug and property offenses, did so by convincing millions of voters that their initiative would help those struggling with addiction. Yet when the proposition took effect in December, there was still no plan for expanding California’s already-strained drug treatment infrastructure. Prop. 36 simply pointed to two existing funding streams as a source of treatment dollars: 1) Proposition 47 grants, which reinvest the prison savings generated by a 2014 law easing penalties on minor drug and property offenses; and 2) AB 109 funding, which accompanied a 2011 law aimed at addressing prison overcrowding by moving people — and dollars — into county systems.

We have evaluated both funds and find that AB 109, which is overdue for reform, would better address Prop. 36’s vague treatment requirements than the smaller, but highly successful Prop. 47 grant program.

Read the full piece on The Orange County Register here.