Pubdate: Thu, 21 Feb 2002
Source: Washington Post (DC)
Copyright: 2002 The Washington Post Company
Section: Page HO03
Contact:  http://www.washingtonpost.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/491
Author: Maureen O'Hagan, Washington Post
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/find?159 (Drug Courts)

SPECIAL DRUG COURT SEEN AS ALTERNATIVE

Sentencing Would Focus on Treatment

ITEM: Morgan Manca-Wells, a Wilde Lake High School dropout, is found in a 
snowy Baltimore parking lot across the street from a hospital, dead of a 
heroin overdose. Burn marks cover his body. It turns out his friends -- 
also high on heroin -- had scalded him with hot water in an attempt to 
revive him.

ITEM: Mary Becraft, of Elkridge, is caught stealing from mailboxes around 
Ellicott City. She had removed outgoing bills and altered the checks 
inside, making them payable to herself to feed a heroin habit. She was 
sentenced to 18 months in jail.

ITEM: A state Department of Education survey last year found that 60 
percent of Howard County 10th-graders said they have used alcohol, and more 
than a third said they have smoked marijuana. Thirteen percent of seniors 
have tried designer drugs like ecstasy; 3 percent said they have used heroin.

Is there a substance abuse problem in Howard County?

"Absolutely," says State's Attorney Marna McLendon, who sees the end 
results as dozens of criminal defendants pass through the courthouse each day.

McLendon says she's frustrated by the havoc substance abusers wreak on 
families and communities, and by the apparent inability of the criminal 
justice system to stop it. For the past year, a group led by McLendon has 
been working on a new way of doing business that they say will stem the tide.

It's called a drug and alcohol treatment court, something that is used in 
750 other jurisdictions across the country, including Harford County and 
Baltimore city.Howard is on a fast track to secure a federal grant, and the 
group hopes to start the court in 2003.

McLendon says the idea is simple: make treatment, rather than punishment, 
the priority in cases involving nonviolent substance abusers. With 
effective treatment, supporters say, relapses will be reduced and 
drug-related crime will decrease.

Drug courts rely on what McLendon calls "the opportunity of crisis," the 
moment when an offender sees the threat of jail time looming.

"It's an attempt to use the court, which has coercive power, as the 
coordinator," said Howard District Court Judge Louis A. Becker.

Defendants in the special court would be placed under intensive supervision 
that includes random urinalysis. They would be required to complete 
court-ordered treatment, and they would have to appear in court as 
frequently as once a week. If they failed to comply, they would risk a 
stint in jail.

The key is expediency, something a drug or alcohol treatment court can 
accommodate far better than the current system.

"When someone has a problem, you need to get him into treatment 
immediately," said Marilyn Manson, director of the county Bureau of 
Addictions. "You need to have the assessment immediately and the slots to 
be able to place people."

It now often takes months to get a substance abuser into treatment.

The drug court also is designed to provide services that might, for 
example, help offenders work toward their General Educational Development 
(GED) diploma , learn parenting skills or enroll in vocational education 
courses.

In a report released by the Howard County group last month, advocates say a 
drug court could have "the power to reunite families, to reduce drug 
related crime and to reduce drug demand.

"If we can reduce relapses and more successfully treat addictions we will 
reduce the crime in the county," the report said.

A major study about drug courts by Steven Belenko, a fellow at the National 
Center on Addiction and Substance Abuse at Columbia University, last year 
reported that "drug use and criminal activity are relatively reduced while 
participants are in the program." But "less clear are the long-term 
post-program impacts of drug courts on recidivism and other outcomes," says 
the study, a "critical review of 37 published and unpublished evaluations 
of drug courts." The data, Belenko said, are not conclusive.

Still, the concept is supported by the federal government, and recently the 
Maryland Court of Appeals set up a special commission to encourage local 
jurisdictions to establish drug courts.

Even Mothers Against Drunk Driving says it supports giving the approach a try.

"We don't have any research right now to support jail or community service 
as effective sanctions," said Wendy Hamilton, who serves on MADD's national 
board of directors, "so we might as well try something that is 
treatment-based and closely supervised."

Locally, however, there are several hurdles.

Because officials have not yet worked out the scope of the new court -- for 
example, whether it will focus on drugs, alcohol or both, whether it will 
target adults or juveniles -- it is unclear how much it would cost. It is 
likely, however, that the maximum federal grant of $500,000 would fall 
short of what is needed to run the program. Planners may need to seek 
county money in what is a difficult year financially.

"Right now, this budget is still coming together," said Victoria Goodman, 
the county spokesman. "Because of the economic situation, it's going to be 
down to the wire on what's going to get funded."

There's also a serious shortage of treatment programs in Howard and 
elsewhere in Maryland. There are no inpatient drug treatment centers or 
halfway houses in the county.

Mary Becraft, who stole checks to support her heroin habit, says something 
must be done. "Howard County is so naive," she said in an interview from 
jail last year. "They don't realize their kids are doing it, too."

Daniel Cabrera, a friend of Morgan Manca-Wells's, agrees.

"He was brilliant. He was one of the most well-spoken, passionate people. 
He played the violin. But he was very much troubled," he said. "The whole 
epidemic of this suburban heroin use was a big surprise to me. When this 
came to light, I realized how prevalent it was."
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