TULARE COUNTY, Calif. (KSEE/KGPE) — In just the few weeks since mid-December when Proposition 36 went into effect, Tulare County District Attorney Tim Ward said he and his team of prosecutors have already filed charges on 13 defendants for felony theft that would have been a misdemeanor previously and 12 defendants for felony drug possession.  "The gig is up. You know, I don't mean to be flippant about it, but the reality is, you know, we have filed felony charges on people that would otherwise have just been cited and released on a misdemeanor petty theft," Ward said.  Ward said this is what the people want. California voters said "yes" to November's ballot measure on Prop 36, which reverses substantial parts of Proposition 47.  Prop 36 lets prosecutors file felony charges for possessing certain drugs if defendants have two previous drug convictions and lets them do the same for thefts under $950 also if the defendant has two prior theft convictions.  Ward said it also allows for a better path for drug treatment, something he says people were not encouraged to do under Prop 47. He said if the treatment is not completed, they would still face prison time.  "We had people dying in our sidewalks across our state and we were turning a blind eye to it. So, I think Prop 36 was a very compassionate look at that aspect of Prop 47," Ward added. However, Fresno area criminal defense attorney David Mugridge disagrees. He said Prop 36 does nothing to get to the root cause of crime and is far from compassionate.  "It's easy to say, yeah, let's be tough on crime, but we've only got so many beds in a prison," Mugridge said.  He thinks the greater punishments will do little to deter shoplifters and ultimately will just pack more people into California's prisons.  "Proposition 36 was a result, I think, of a lot of people that were very concerned because it seemed to them like people were running into the store every other day and committing new crimes and there was nothing to stop them," he added.  Ward said he wants the business community to know to call police if they have issues with shoplifters, and the proposition allows for better protections for store owners who want to keep repeat offenders out of their stores.