Pubdate: Sun, 11 May 2003
Source: Macon Telegraph (GA)
Copyright: 2003 The Macon Telegraph Publishing Company
Contact:  http://www.macontelegraph.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/667
Author: Charles E. Richardson

ONE LIFE AT A TIME

There is an anniversary of sorts coming up in October that few know about. 
Back in 1993, the formulation of a plan started coming together in Georgia 
that would give people the opportunity to grab their lives back. It was a 
simple seminar to explain how a special drug court program, started in 
Oregon, works.

Basically, a special drug court is a court-supervised substance abuse and 
rehabilitation program. Before the special drug court program formed, 
offenders were caught in a never-ending merry-go-round of abuse. Everyone 
paid the price, the offender, his or her family, and the community at large.

The organizers of the special drug court had come to the realization that 
incarceration had not worked, so it was time to try something new. A pilot 
program was started in 1994 right here in Bibb County.

Before you start thinking that the drug court is just another feel good 
program that takes it easy on offenders, think again. Drugs are equal 
opportunity. They don't care what your station in life is or the color of 
your skin or your gender.

The drug court program works and to graduate is not easy. The program lasts 
for 26 weeks and those enrolled submit to a urinalysis each week, sometimes 
twice a week, and can be tested at random.

Once in the program, (by the way, offenders pay $500 each toward the cost 
of the program) if an offender falls off the wagon, the original charges 
can still be prosecuted.

Don't take my word that the program works. Here are the numbers. From 
January 1, 1994 to December 2002, 1,048 males and 332 females have entered 
the program. Of that number 394 finished the program and graduated.

Of the graduates, only 11.5 percent have been arrested again for a drug 
related crime. Before you start wondering how I can claim the program a 
success when 71 percent who enter don't finish, think about this. Before 
the drug court, there were few other treatment options and way more than 11 
percent found themselves in jail again and again. That saves you and me 
money in a number of ways.

However, like any program it faces its financial woes. The total cost of 
the program runs $200,000 annually. That's a big chunk of change if you 
think about it in a vacuum, but think about it with this in mind. In 1998 
four women graduated from the program. They were either pregnant or became 
pregnant while enrolled. Instead of giving birth to a drug addicted 
children, which can easily run as high as the total cost of the special 
drug court, the women gave birth to healthy non-addicted children. They got 
their lives back and saved the lives of their children. How much is that worth?

According to the court's eight-year annual report, it has saved the county 
$797,850, just on what it would have cost to lock up the 394 graduates.

There are a number of people responsible for this program from the 
oversight committee to program administrators, but frankly, the program 
wouldn't exist without Superior Court Judge Tommy Day Wilcox. He caught the 
vision and has pushed it forward since that initial seminar held almost 10 
years ago.

I've been to the drug courts' graduations. I've listened to the testimony 
of people who have completed the program. Many just needed a chance, or a 
push, to seek treatment. It's a structured chance to start life over. 
Offenders can hold down jobs and hold their families together and get the 
kind of help they need to kick their habits.

Drugs are a poison that touches all aspects of society. They suck the life 
out of people everyday. The drug court doesn't save everybody, but it at 
least saves somebody. How much is that worth?
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MAP posted-by: Keith Brilhart