Pubdate: Thu, 28 Sep 2006
Source: St. Louis Post-Dispatch (MO)
Copyright: 2006 St. Louis Post-Dispatch
Contact:  http://www.stltoday.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/418
Author: Amanda St. Amand
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/find?159 (Drug Courts)

DRUG COURT GIVES SECOND CHANCE TO YOUNG ADDICT

Given his choice between being sent to Iraq or being  sent to the St. 
Clair County Jail, Tim would have  picked Iraq. He didn't have a 
choice, though, and spent  17 days in July locked up for possession of cocaine.

Not that cocaine was the drug of choice for Tim, who  said he started 
smoking marijuana in junior high school  and quickly expanded his 
drug menu. "Ecstasy, mushrooms  and acid were the drugs I really 
liked," he said.

He talked about his drug use Wednesday morning while  waiting to make 
his weekly visit to drug court. He's  one of four people who have 
qualified and agreed to  participate in the program, which the county 
began in  July. That means he pleaded guilty and agreed to make 
weekly visits to court. He's tested for drugs twice a  week, and 
required to go to at least one Alcoholics  Anonymous or Narcotics 
Anonymous meeting a week. Tim's  been going to at least two or three instead.

In the song "Mama Tried," Merle Haggard sang "I turned  21 in prison 
doing life without parole." Tim turned 21  in jail doing 17 days and 
doesn't want to spend even  one more day behind bars.

Tim dropped out of Belleville West High School a few  years ago. His 
mother kicked him out of the house. He  used drugs, took her car 
without permission, partied  constantly. Often he would come home in 
the morning  just as she was getting up for work. He drifted 
from  the homes of one friend and another. He wound up being  asked 
to leave, in his words, "because I was too messed  up on drugs to be 
in their houses."

Eventually Tim earned his GED. He joined the National  Guard when he 
was 19 and got trained as a truck driver  in the 1344th 
Transportation Company. But he never  stopped using drugs.

Police arrested in him in February for drug possession.  He initially 
agreed to report other drug activity, but  he said he never followed 
through and continued his  drug use. When police called to tell him 
there was a  warrant for his arrest, he turned himself in.

After his uncle helped arrange his release, Tim said,  he knew he had 
to make changes. As a nonviolent  offender, he was offered a spot in 
drug court. His case  was transferred there this month. St. Clair 
County  State's Attorney Robert Haida said that so far, Tim  looks 
like he could be a success.

"He's got every reason to stay out of trouble, and he's  worked at it 
so far," said Haida, who stood in the  courtroom while Judge Andrew 
Gleeson talked to Tim.  Tell me something you've learned from these 
support  group meetings, the judge said.

Tim answered quickly. Honesty, he said. He told the  judge that most 
of the last 10 years he has spent lying  and blaming other people. 
The AA and NA meetings have  taught him that he is responsible for 
his own actions.

He lost his job last week, he said, when he told his  boss that he 
couldn't work Mondays or Wednesdays  because of his drug court, 
drug-testing and support  group commitments. He plans to find another 
job,  quickly, and meanwhile use his free time to study for  the 
commercial drivers license test.

He never would have been so motivated unless he was  arrested. Had he 
not spent part of his summer in jail,  he said, "I would have gone 
right back to using drugs.  I'd just get in trouble again and it 
would be even  worse."

He knows he's an addict. Each morning, he said, he  wakes up and 
prays he can make it through the day  without drugs.

More than anything, he said, he wants to graduate  successfully from 
drug court. If he does that, he will  have no conviction on his 
record, Haida said. Tim wants  to be available to his Guard unit when 
there's another  Iraq deployment. He thinks he could be there by early 2008.

Under his contract with drug court, Tim might spend up  to 24 months 
coming to court and being tested for  drugs.

Because drug court is new to St. Clair County, in some  ways Tim is 
an experiment. The courts will keep an eye  on him. His family will 
keep an eye on him. And it's  fine with him, he said, if the 
Post-Dispatch watches  him. "A year or so from now, I'll be a success 
story  from this court," Tim said. "I can guarantee that."
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MAP posted-by: Beth Wehrman