Pubdate: Thu, 17 Jun 2004 Source: Courier-Journal, The (KY) Copyright: 2004 The Courier-Journal Contact: http://www.courier-journal.com/ Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/97 Author: Betty Baye Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/find?159 (Drug Courts) A STIRRING GRADUATION IN DRUG COURT ALSO RECALLS THE MANY WHO HAVE BEEN LOST When I addressed the crowd at the Jefferson County Family Drug Court graduation a week ago today, I called the roll of my childhood friends who had been "murdered" by substance abuse. Some died young, in their 20s and 30s. Some managed to duck, dodge and weave through years of drug and alcohol abuse into a physically and mentally ravaged middle age. Some tried to kick the habit but couldn't. Anybody who thinks it's easy hasn't been an addict or hasn't known one. I've lost so many friends to drugs that when I go home to visit, I hardly know anybody. On occasion, I've spied a resemblance in the young face of a stranger, and my sister, Debbie, who still lives in the old neighborhood, introduces me to a son, daughter or grandchild of one of those old friends. Sadly, it's obvious that some are repeating the cycles of their elders. It breaks your heart watching people die. It breaks your heart being helpless to do anything about it. Often I say to myself, "There but for the grace of God go I." It's deeply humbling to look back and realize that you've gone through the valley of the shadow of death and been spared. And to do what? To tell the story, I believe. If I can't directly save lives, at least I can defend the humanity of those whom the judgmental among us condemn and would just as soon throw away. As I stood to speak at the graduation, I thought that, had there been a drug court in my community in my day, maybe I'd be able to go back home today, sit on a bench in the big park on the East River Drive and laugh and talk with my old, dear friend Geneva. But Geneva, sweet and sassy Geneva, is many years gone. I felt her spirit, though, when I showed up on the sixth floor of the Judicial Center for the drug court graduation. It was no traditional graduation, for sure. No caps and gowns. No strains of "Pomp and Circumstance." No long procession. The entire graduating class, in fact, consisted of just two people. But on this day, the trappings didn't matter. What did matter was the journey those two women had taken -- the lengths to which they had gone to reinvent themselves as drug-free, responsible women and mothers. Addicts who aren't serious need not seek admission to drug court. It's a tough program, and any backsliding -- such as not showing up for counseling sessions, missing meetings with the judge or failing a random drug test -- has very serious consequences: A woman could go to jail. Or, worse, lose her right to regain custody of her kids. "Intensive legal accountability" is the formal description of the cornerstone of drug court's approach. Others are "gender-specific treatment, intensive case management and increased community and family involvement." Let me break down that rhetoric. There's no way for participants to bluff their way through. The judges, lawyers, child protective workers and others involved in family drug court didn't just fall off the turnip truck. They're wise to the ways that addicts can be deceitful. Jefferson County's Family Drug Court has been around only for about 11/2 years. But some form of drug court has been operating much longer and enjoys strong and growing support from the legal community and politicians. Finally -- finally -- people in power are coming to understand what advocates have argued for years: Treating addicts in community settings is preferable to and certainly more cost-effective than putting them in jail. An estimated 348,000 Kentuckians are substance abusers. And it costs taxpayers more than $17,000 a year to keep a single inmate incarcerated for a year. In contrast, a treatment program costs about $5,000. Gov. Ernie Fletcher and Lt. Gov. Steve Pence apparently see the wisdom of drug courts. Shortly after taking office, they proposed to include $4.2 million over two years to fund 11 new drug courts around the state. "I believe that if we have to take money from somewhere else and put it in treatment, we'll have to do that," Pence said when the announcement was made. What will actually materialize for drug courts remains to be seen, since legislators haven't passed a budget yet. At Thursday's graduation, however, politicians weren't on anybody's mind. We were all there to celebrate two beautiful women's victories over their addictions and their determination to get their four kids back. "Stick out your chests," I told them. "Say, 'I did it!' You've outgrown being the kind of women that you used to be. And aren't you proud?" They were proud, of course. So were their families and their friends. And so, too, were Family Court Judge Eleanore Garber, the lawyers, the case workers and the others in that sun-drenched conference room who had had a hand in helping two more women squeeze through the eye of the needle of their addiction. Betty Baye's columns appear Thursdays in The Forum. You can read them online at www.courier-journal.com. - --- MAP posted-by: Terry Liittschwager