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." - --- MAP posted-by: Beth Wehrman