Thanks to Proposition 36, many non-violent, low-level drug offenders in California are offered the option of drug rehab instead of prison and a criminal record. Tens of thousands of people have received treatment instead of jail time through Prop 36. However, the California Senate is thinking about cutting funding for Prop 36 treatment in exchange for hefty tax breaks for large corporations.



Cutting back on Prop 36 could have dire effects on the quality of treatment offered under Prop 36 next year and on the thousands of people who desperately need successful drug rehab programs. And it could take a huge toll on the California economy.

In just six years, over 70,000 California residents have graduated from Proposition 36. Some of them have been celebrities. Robert Downey Jr. is a Prop 36 graduate. He had spent more than a decade in and out of jail and various drug rehab programs for drug addiction and abuse and now has even rehabilitated his career. And last week, actor Daniel Baldwin told Larry King Live that Prop 36 was the intervention he needed to interrupt an 18-year cocaine addiction.

But the vast majority of the 70,000 Californians who have been given the chance to end their drug addiction and change their lives aren’t in the news.

Prop 36 has also made a big dent in the California economy. A Rand Corporation study showed conclusively that every $1 spent on drug rehab saves society $7 in lost productivity and law enforcement costs. To date, California taxpayers have saved $1.8 billion.

A solid majority of California voters asked for Prop 36 so that people can avoid the often damaging trauma and stigma of jail time and instead solve their addiction problems through successful drug rehab programs, and more than 12,000 people are expected to graduate from Prop 36 drug rehab programs next year.

Cutting the funding for Prop 36 may trap more people in the criminal justice system because of substance abuse and addiction rather than being offered the freedom of recovering their lives through the California healthcare system. If you live in California, do what you can to get more people into a successful drug rehab program by making your voice heard on the proposed Prop 36 budget cuts.