KQED’s ‘Health Dialogues’ Program Focuses on Proposition 36

KQED's "Health Dialogues," a live monthly call-in program funded by the California Endowment to examine health care issues in California, will focus tonight on Proposition 36, the voter-approved initiative that sends nonviolent first- and second-time drug offenders to treatment rather than prison. Health Dialogues will discuss the effects of the new law, including viewpoints of both opponents and supporters of the measure. Guests on tonight's show include Santa Clara County Superior Court Judge and president of the California Association of Drug Court Professionals Stephen Manley; Lonny Shavelson, an emergency room physician at Alta Bates Hospital and author of "Hooked," a critical account of drug rehabilitation programs in the Bay Area; Ryan Anonuevo, who was sentenced to a drug treatment program at San Francisco's Walden House under Proposition 36; and Cheryl Branch, co-founder and chair of the African American Alcohol and Other Drug Council in Los Angeles. The show airs at 7 p.m. PT. Check local radio listings for availability. The program will be available online in RealAudio within one day of the broadcast (KQED, "Health Dialogues," 3/13).