Pubdate: Fri, 21 Dec 2007
Source: USA Today (US)
Page: 3A
Copyright: 2007 USA TODAY, a division of Gannett Co. Inc
Contact:  http://www.usatoday.com/printedition/news/index.htm
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/466
Author: David Unze, USA TODAY
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/find?159 (Drug Courts)
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/rehab.htm (Treatment)

MORE PLACES TURNING TO DRUG COURTS

Instead of Jail, Addicts Can Be Sentenced to Treatment Programs

Damon Fuseyamore vividly recalls smoking "my last nickel of crack" on 
June 16, 1997, while sitting on the steps outside his New York City 
residence. He said he owed loan sharks money and had been arrested 
two weeks before "with six nickels of crack and a bunch of money."

He was charged with selling crack and was looking at two to seven 
years in prison. But he had another option.

"I had a choice of doing jail time or changing my life and going 
through treatment," he said. "If you have a choice between doing 
two-to-seven or going through the program and going into treatment, 
any smart person would take the program."

Fuseyamore, 45 and the father of a 10-year-old son, celebrated 10 
years of sobriety in June and has been a mechanic for the New York 
City Fire Department for six years, according to Dennis Reilly, 
former director of the Brooklyn Treatment Court. Fuseyamore's story 
is one of thousands touted by supporters of alternative drug courts.

The courts, which are multiplying across the USA, began 18 years ago 
as an experiment to attack a growing crack cocaine epidemic in Miami. 
They rely on treatment, rigorous supervision and accountability as a 
way to help, for the most part, non-violent drug users rather than 
sending them to prison.

There are now 2,016 drug courts in about 1,100 counties, according to 
the National Drug Court Institute. That number, the institute says, 
is up from 1,048 five years ago and is nearly 1,800 more than existed 
10 years ago.

According to West Huddleston, CEO of the institute, a 2005 study -- 
the most recent available -- showed 70% of drug court participants 
graduate from the program and reoffend at a rate of 17% on average, 
compared with the 66% recidivism rate of drug offenders who do time in prison.

That study also showed the annual average cost of a drug court 
participant is $3,500, compared with annual prison costs that range 
from $13,000 to $44,000 per inmate, Huddleston said.

Alternative drug courts are funded by a combination of federal, state 
and charitable dollars. There is $15.2 million for the Department of 
Justice Drug Court Discretionary Grant Program in the 2008 budget 
that awaits President Bush's signature. In addition, the federal 
Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration has $10.2 
million in the 2008 budget to add treatment beds within operational 
drug courts.

Supporters say more is needed. "We're scratching the surface. I think 
it's critical that a drug court is in every county in America," said 
Huddleston, who estimates that 120,000 people are served annually by 
drug court alternatives, but potentially 4 million more people could 
benefit by such programs. The program is mocked by some as adult day 
care or handholding for addicts, Huddleston said.

Eric Miller, an assistant professor of law at Saint Louis University 
is among the unconvinced. He said the drug court program takes away 
the adversarial design and uses the judge to engage the defendant in 
a 12-step-style program.

"That's not what judges do," he said.

Miller questions whether there is enough thought to weeding out the 
people the drug court doesn't suit.

"A lot of thought has to be given to the types of people it best 
works for," he said. "I'm not saying it doesn't work at all. But I 
think there needs to be more thought about who it works for."

Stearns County (Minn.) Attorney Janelle Kendall admits she was 
skeptical about drug courts.

"Our drug court was certainly not the prosecutors' idea," she said. 
"It still isn't for violent offenders. ... What this approach seems 
to reach is what's left of the humanity of the drug addict."

Among the areas of growth:

Missouri, which had eight drug courts in 1998, has added 100 courts 
since then, according to Ann Wilson, coordinator of Missouri's drug 
courts. Missouri has more drug courts per capita than any state and 
as of Sept. 1 boasted 108 operational drug court programs, Wilson 
said. Of those, 75 are adult programs, 19 are for juveniles and 14 
are family programs.

New York, which has a drug court in each of its 62 counties and has 
integrated its funding into its overall judicial budget, according to 
Drug Court Institute research.

Oklahoma, where a Department of Mental Health and Substance Abuse 
Services report shows that from July 2005 to July 2006, the most 
recent period for which data was available, prison population 
expansion was slowed by 2,300 inmates because those offenders were 
admitted into drug court. The report shows that there are 52 drug 
courts in 59 counties. It lists the annual cost for a drug court 
participant as $5,000, compared with at least $16,000 annually for a 
prison inmate.

Florida, where the first drug court was created in 1989, now has more 
than 109 active drug courts and six more in the works, according to 
Jennifer Grandal, court operations consultant in the office of state 
courts administrator. 
- ---
MAP posted-by: Richard Lake