EDITORIAL:

This certainly won’t be a popular position to take in Newport Beach, but we have to say it: The City Council made a mistake opposing a state ballot measure that steers more nonviolent drug offenders toward treatment centers instead of prison.

We understand that many in the city have been angered by the proliferation of sober-living homes. It was a legitimate concern that city officials worked hard on to solve. And it was no easy task since federal laws hindered city officials from passing legislation that could be considered discrimination against the disabled.

But the city passed a comprehensive ordinance that regulates the sober-living homes and settled all of the legal challenges from those companies.

And, as Assistant City Manager Dave Kiff pointed out, the city ordinance approved this year would stop most rehabilitation homes from letting drug addicts do their time in a treatment center here instead of going to prison.

We understand the fear that Proposition 5 would send an influx of addicts to the area’s sober-living homes, but it can’t happen.

Moreover, we can’t just view this as a local concern. The state is struggling with a federal court mandate to do something about overcrowded prisons. One of the most effective ways to reduce that overcrowding is to treat drug addicts as patients, not criminals.

Prison space is better reserved for the drug dealers, not their customers. And if we do more to treat the addicts, then it’s a simple matter of supply and demand: Take away the demand, and there’s no need for the supply.