The National Institute on Drug Abuse has awarded the Integrated Substance Abuse Programs at the UCLA Neuropsychiatric Institute $3.4 million over five years to study the effect of California’s Substance Abuse and Crime Prevention Act, or Proposition 36, in five counties.

Passed by voters in November 2000 and implemented statewide in July 2001, the policy initiative created a system that diverts individuals convicted of non-violent, drug-related offenses to drug treatment instead of jail or prison.

The Proposition 36 Treatment System Impact Study will assess how well the initiative has reduced incarceration rates and improved the health and social functioning of Proposition 36 treatment participants in Kern, Riverside, Sacramento, San Diego and San Francisco counties.

In addition, the researchers will examine changes in the drug-treatment system in response to the new initiative and in its relationships to criminal justice and other health and social service systems. The study is the largest of its kind funded by the federal government to assess the effects of treatment in lieu of incarceration.

The study will be led by Yih-Ing Hser, an adjunct professor of psychiatry and biobehavioral sciences at UCLA’s David Geffen School of Medicine.

The UCLA Integrated Substance Abuse Programs also is conducting the initiative-mandated five-year statewide evaluation of fiscal impact and effectiveness of Proposition 36 under contract with the State Department of Alcohol and Drug Programs. The statewide evaluation will be completed by June 2006.

The UCLA Neuropsychiatric Institute is an interdisciplinary research and education institute devoted to the understanding of complex human behavior, including the genetic, biological, behavioral and sociocultural underpinnings of normal behavior, and the causes and consequences of neuropsychiatric disorders.