[420 Girl]

Sacramento, CA: State election officials have approved a measure for the November 2008 ballot that mandates probation for non-violent drug offenders and reduces pot possession penalties.

Sponsored by the Drug Policy Alliance, Proposition 5 (aka the Nonviolent Offender Rehabilitation Act), would expand the diversion of non-violent offenders to drug treatment and increase funding for state-sponsored rehabilitation programs. The proposal would also reduce minor marijuana possession penalties from a misdemeanor (punishable by a $100 criminal fine with a criminal record) to a non-criminal infraction (punishable by a $100 civil fine with no criminal record).

According to the NORA campaign website, "Because NORA would sharply limit the incarceration of nonviolent offenders, the nonpartisan Legislative Analyst's Office projects that the measure would save California $1 billion or more each year in prison and parole costs. … [T]he state would see additional net savings of $2.5 billion over several years as prison-construction costs would be reduced by NORA's reforms."

The California Democratic Party, the California Society of Addiction Medicine, the California League of Women Voters, and the California Academy of Family Physicians have each endorsed Proposition 5.

The DPA championed a similar, but less expansive statewide initiative (Proposition 36) in 2000, which passed with 61 percent of the vote.

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