Pubdate: Sat, 1 Dec 2007
Source: Log Cabin Democrat (AR)
Copyright: 2007 The Log Cabin Democrat
Contact:  http://thecabin.net/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/548
Author: Joe Lamb, Log Cabin Staff Writer
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/pot.htm (Marijuana)
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/coke.htm (Cocaine)
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/find?159 (Drug Courts)
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/testing.htm (Drug Testing)
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/meth.htm (Methamphetamine)

Drug court celebrates four years of success

The 20th Judicial District Drug Court celebrated its  fourth year of
providing drug offenders with an  alternative to prison or regular
probation Friday  morning.

It was standing room only in Courtroom A at the  Faulkner County
Courthouse, with over 100 people  gathered to hear the testimonies of
graduates or  current participants in the drug court program. The
first to speak was Jason Pruitt, who said a 10-year  addiction to
methamphetamine derailed his career before  leading to his arrest in
Greenbrier.

"I was raised to know right from wrong in a good  Christian home,"
Pruitt said to the packed courtroom,  "I don't know where I got off
track."

The drug court's four-phase regimen of counseling,  support group
meetings and random drug testing helped  Pruitt get back on track, he
said. But like many in the  program, Pruitt wasn't a model of
adherence to the  requirements. Violations earned him a 365-day stay
in  prison.

"That's what helps," Pruitt said of his year's  imprisonment, which he
described as a time of  reflection. When his time was served, he was
brought  back into the program, and graduated successfully.

Mark Young, another drug court  participant, said he hopes to graduate
from the program  in a year. For a time, he said, he was "a poster
child  of what not to do" in the drug court. Like Pruitt, his
violations of the court's regulations resulted in a  year in prison.

Young said he was angry about being locked up, but over  time realized
that his marijuana and alcohol abuse had  been a prison of their own,
estranging him from his  loved ones.

"I'd locked myself up from my family for years," he
said.

Young said his drug problems started in his first years  of college,
when he found himself "away from my parents  and people who knew my
parents. ... Always us drug  addicts think that maybe we would have
quit before we  got in trouble, but that never happens."

Through the drug court program, he said, "I gained a  sense of
responsibility for my own actions, which I  never had."

Patty Clements said she knew methamphetamine "was going  to be the
death of me," before she was arrested in  Vilonia.

"I got a second crack at life through drug court," she  said, "and I'm
going to embrace it."

After graduating from the program, Clements regained  custody of her
daughter.

Circuit Judge Charles "Ed" Clawson said he struggled  with Jay Pierce,
another drug court participant who  gave his testimony Friday.

"You know the old adage 'You can lead a horse to water  but you can't
make him drink?,'" Clawson said. "Well,  it's my experience that if
you tie him there long  enough, he'll get thirsty."

Pierce said the first year of the program was "pretty  bad," as he
rebelled against the drug court staff.  Eventually, though, he said he
realized that the drug  court staff weren't people trying to get him
in  trouble, but rather "people going up to bat for me."

"It's really cool to see guys on the side of the law  helping me," he
said. "It's like they took a program  and tried to say, 'Look, there's
a lot of drug addicts  out there. Instead of sticking them in prison
and doing  away with them, let's try to help them out.'"

Another drug court participant, Skylar Carter expressed  his
appreciation to the drug court staff by teaming  with Young to write
and record a hip-hop song dealing  with the experience of the
program's participants.  Carter also presented Clawson with a plaque
on behalf  of all the participants.

Carter said his drug of choice was cocaine, and his  addiction led him
to rob convenience stores, motels and  dope dealers.

"I got stopped on some road," he said. "I was putting  up a fight and
I got maced, slammed, every other thing.  It wasn't until I heard a
dog barking and they said  they'd turn him loose if I didn't quit
resisting that I  calmed myself down.

"And they say you can't make good decisions on drugs?,"  he
joked.

Even the birth of his son last year didn't shake his  addiction, he
said.

"Like every other addict, I said when my son was born  that I'd quit,"
he said. "I didn't."

Carter is still hoping to graduate from the program. He  had a major
setback about a year and a half ago, just  seven days before he would
have graduated. An old  friend came to town, he said, and persuaded
him to do  cocaine. The consequence: A year in prison.

Carter was released on July 12, he said, "and here I  am, trying to
get it together again."

Conway Police Chief A. J. Gary and local attorney Frank  Shaw
commented on the success of the program after the  ceremony.

"This program helps people," Shaw said. "It reduces  crime and it's
cheaper than incarceration. It just  works; it's the best program we
have."

Gary pointed out that once a person has graduated,  their record is
sealed and the offense that brought  them into the program can't be
held against them when  applying for a job.

"They can truthfully say that they've never been  convicted of a
felony," he said.

To date, none of the program's 58 graduates have been  charged with a
new felony and 96 percent have  maintained gainful employment. The
program has a  82-percent graduation rate.

All participants who spoke said without the program  they'd likely be
dead or in prison today. 
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MAP posted-by: Richard Lake