Pubdate: Sun, 05 Aug 2012
Source: Standard-Speaker (Hazleton, PA)
Copyright: 2012 The Standard-Speaker
Contact:  http://www.standardspeaker.com
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/1085

TREATMENT COURT GIVES EX-ADDICT A NEW LEASE ON LIFE

In September 2007, he stood inside Rainbow Jewelers in Kingston,
intent on taking what he wanted.

Then 34 years old and "high out of his mind," he swiped six rings from
the sales counter and ran. He wanted to trade the jewelry for heroin.

It wasn't the first time Mark W. Donovan had a brush with the law, as
he had spent most of his life fueling his drug and alcohol addiction.

Donovan said it wasn't until two to three days later in jail that he
realized he did something serious.

"I was probably one of the worst people in the valley. I definitely
led a crooked life," Donovan said from his Hanover Township home.

Crime found its way to Donovan like it has to many others - through
drugs.

His world revolved around drugs, and he would do whatever it took to
get them. Time and time again, he was brought before a judge to face
criminal offenses. He said he felt like the world was out to get him.

But for Donovan, a chance at salvation came while sitting in a prison
cell.

Out of control

At 12 or 13, Donovan began smoking marijuana and drinking. He hung out
with older kids who did the same. Tragedies in his life steered him
deeper into illegal drugs because they numbed his pain.

He was charged with several driving under the influence violations.
Other drug addictions, like cocaine and prescription pills, found
their way to Donovan. He was spiraling out of control, spending $50 to
$60 a day on drugs. In prison, a fellow inmate introduced him to a
newer, cheaper high - heroin.

The heist at Rainbow Jewelers had him sitting in prison for a year
before he was invited to apply for entry to Luzerne County Treatment
Court, a unique branch of the county court system that offers
individualized care to treat addiction.

Clients meet with a judge weekly and are required to attend treatment
and counseling, obtain a full-time job or enroll in school, and find a
home of their own.

At first, Donovan's "manipulative mind" had no intention of stopping
drugs, he said. He thought treatment court would simply get him out of
jail and soon enough he'd be using again. But that was all to change
the next - and last - time he found himself in trouble.

A new life

Donovan remembers clearly the day he began listening to his probation
officer and to the counselor provided by treatment court.

It was not long after his admission to the program that he lapsed - he
got high one day and a drug test proved it. He said he was sitting in
the court office and thought he was getting kicked out of the program
and going back to jail.

Donovan went to jail, but he stayed in the program. His counselor told
him they understood he was an addict but wanted to help him change.

"And I realized they are trying to help me," he said.

But not only did others want to help him; Donovan said he was ready to
help himself and change.

"All it took was someone to show me that another life was possible.
It's hard to explain but it also took the need for me to want to be
clean. If I didn't have that will, I would still be using," he said.

Treatment court, he said, gave him guidance on how his life should be.
It also gave him faith in a justice system that he felt "cut (him)
down" so many times in the past, and belief in the idea that he could
get sober.

Judges in treatment court praised him when he stayed clean. "I heard
that he's proud of me" for staying with the program, Donovan said.

So he made changes that included cutting people out of his life. Some
of them were family members.

He said some of those people give him strange looks when he tells them
there is more to life, or "you're missing out on today."

"They think I'm crazy, but it's the truth," he said.

Donovan graduated from treatment court in two years, a clean and sober
man.

Today his family is strong and he has worked past emotional problems
and the life he led. Donovan said he is grateful for his wife and
their 2-year-old son, his home and the life he chose to change.

"We may not be millionaires, but there's no drug or alcohol use in my
house. I know I can get through anything today," he said.

"I don't want to give up," he said. "I don't need to put anything in
my body. I'm doing it, and I really like where I'm at."
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MAP posted-by: Matt