Pubdate: Fri, 22 Jul 2005
Source: Union Democrat, The (Sonora, CA)
Copyright: 2005 Western Communications, Inc
Contact:  http://uniondemocrat.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/846
Author: Amy Lindblom and Mike Morris
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/find?159 (Drug Courts)
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/testing.htm (Drug Test)
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/prison.htm (Incarceration)
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/meth.htm (Methamphetamine)
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/rehab.htm (Treatment)
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/youth.htm (Youth)

Series: Meth In The Mother Lode (Part 3c)

DRUG COURT A CHALLENGE THAT MANY TAKE

Robin Wellmaker came before Calaveras County Drug Court Judge Douglas 
Mewhinney in late November after she went off the wagon and used meth.

Before that, she had been clean for 90 days.

"Do you want to remain in drug court?" Mewhinney asked the woman, who was 
missing several of her teeth.

Wellmaker sobbed that she did and Mewhinney warned her that she had one 
more chance to get her life together.

A month later, Wellmaker's drug tests were clean, and she showed Mewhinney 
five job applications to prove that she was trying to get a job. Wellmaker 
also told Mewhinney she had a dental appointment the following week to 
start working on fixing her teeth.

"That was her downfall," said substance abuse counselor Deni Keiser.

At the dentist, Wellmaker received a bottle of pain-killing Vicodin, which 
she abused.

She lied to the drug court team about her usage, Keiser said.

Wellmaker is now behind bars at a women's state prison in Chowchilla.

Her story, however, is more the exception than the rule for drug court 
participants in the Mother Lode, experts say.

The programs - an alternative to the regular criminal justice system - are 
both difficult and successful, said Tuolumne County Drug Court Program 
Coordinator Robert Finnegan.

"Close to 98 percent of the people who successfully complete any type of 
drug treatment program remain sober and stay out of trouble," said 
Finnegan, who manages both adult drug court and dependency or family drug 
court.

Success rate

The key to drug court's success is constant monitoring from the drug team 
and a no-excuses stance judges have toward participants who miss a drug 
test, fail to go to counseling, don't get a job or go back to school, or 
those who miss a supervised visit with their children.

"The judge becomes their parent they either don't have or didn't have," 
Finnegan said.

Drug court, which began in Florida in 1989, is successful when abusers 
complete the program. However, it isn't easy to change what in some cases 
is a lifetime of destructive behavior patterns.

"It's the hardest thing in the world to do; getting clean and sober," 
Finnegan said. "These people sometimes have empty lives, and they fill it 
with methamphetamine."

Calaveras County's Drug Court began three years ago and eight people have 
graduated. There are always 11 participants - the maximum allowed in the 
program.

Tuolumne County's Drug Court began in 1999 and 147 men and women have 
participated - 76 have graduated, 71 did not and most of those were sent to 
prison.

Money saver

Drug courts have saved California close to $43 million in incarceration 
costs, a state agency said in a report released Wednesday to legislators.

The report comes as lawmakers consider changing Proposition 36, approved by 
voters five years ago, so that it would mimic drug courts by letting judges 
send offenders to jail for brief periods for violating provisions of their 
treatment.

As approved by 61 percent of voters, Proposition 36 bars any incarceration 
for first- and second-time nonviolent drug offenders.

But the Assembly is considering a Senate-approved bill that would let 
judges employ what's called "flash incarcerations" for Proposition 36 
offenders as well as those diverted to drug courts.

Senators were swayed by law enforcement concerns, and by studies showing 30 
percent of offenders sent to treatment under Proposition 36 never show up 
and just 24 percent complete their treatment.

Wednesday's report by the California Department of Alcohol and Drug 
Programs found that drug courts reduced substance abuse and saved 
taxpayers' more than $42.8 million in prison costs between January 2001 and 
July 2004.

The study tracked more than 10,000 adult and juvenile offenders in 46 counties.

It calculated that every dollar spent on drug court participants saved 
$1.31 in prison costs alone, diverting adult offenders from a total of more 
than 1.1 million days in prison.

In addition, offenders completed more than 47,500 hours of community service.

Family drug courts reunited more than 600 children with one or both 
parents, and nearly 700 participants were making regular child support 
payments, the study found.

Of 8,555 adults who participated, 13 percent were homeless when they 
entered the program, but 80 percent found housing as they went through drug 
court.

It also found 96 percent of adults' urine tests and 90 percent of 
juveniles' tests showed no drug use during the time they were overseen by 
the courts.

How it works

Using meth, selling the drug and especially making it can lead to jail or 
prison.

Some people accused of drug charges can plead guilty to their crimes and a 
judge sentences them to drug court.

Participants sign a contract basically turning their lives over to a team 
of people expert at getting drug abusers sober: probation officers, judges, 
social workers and substance abuse counselors.

With drug court, participants give up certain civil rights, such as the 
right to an attorney.

If they fail the program, they are usually sentenced to prison. But if a 
person completes the program, the charges against them are dropped.

Mewhinney said drug court's goal is to get people to change lifestyles and 
attitudes that lead to drug abuse.

More than 75 percent of the participants in Tuolumne and Calaveras 
counties' drug court programs are meth users. The rest abuse prescription 
drugs, alcohol or other drugs like heroin, cocaine and marijuana.

Tuolumne County has both an Adult Drug Court and Dependency Drug Court. 
Calaveras County has only Adult Drug Court.

Some addicts have had their children taken away. Those parents go to 
dependency drug court, where they both get sober and learn to be better 
parents. Making nutritious meals and dealing with anger and frustration 
without resorting to drugs are among topics taught.

In adult drug court, Mewhinney said, "Participants have to live in a clean 
and sober environment, square up with DMV, get medical insurance, obtain 
steady employment and get their GED if they didn't graduate from high school."

Judges and drug court case workers may even give input on jobs and who 
participants should or shouldn't date.

During treatment, participants are tested for drugs or alcohol through 
random urine testing. If they test "dirty" by having drugs in their system 
or just don't show up for a test, the judge punishes them immediately with 
a jail cell for a night or a weekend.

Ups and downs

Few who enter drug court make it through the entire program without at 
least one sanction, Finnegan said.

During a court appearance, Lisa, a meth user and mother of a 2-year-old 
girl, didn't show up for a drug test. She told Eric DuTemple, judge of 
Tuolumne County's Drug Court, her dad died and she just "completely forgot 
the test."

DuTemple wasn't moved. He sent her to jail for the weekend and canceled her 
court-supervised visit with her daughter.

But the judge's attitude was different with John.

"You've done marvelous," DuTemple told John as he entered his final weeks 
of the program. "Given your success and your commitment to sobriety, if 
nothing else happens then in a month we can release you. I'm real proud of 
what you've done."

John had tears in his eyes when the other members of his drug court group 
clapped for his success.

Commitment to success

Drug court is a very labor-intensive program with many people putting in 
long hours to help addicts.

They would rather do that then see addicts continue on a cycle of using, 
getting arrested, having their children taken away, going to jail, getting 
released and doing the same thing all over again.

"I run into people all the time who, after four or five years, are still 
sober after completing drug court," Finnegan said. "They have gotten jobs, 
they have new friends and they are leading good lives. That's the 
motivation for us to keep these programs running."

Added Keiser: "I know in my heart that it works when people are held 
accountable."

The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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MAP posted-by: Beth