Pubdate: Fri, 26 Apr 2002
Source: Big Sandy News, The (KY)
Copyright: 2002 The Big Sandy News
Contact:  http://www.bigsandynews.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/1975
Author: Chris McDavid, Johnson County Bureau
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/find?159 (Drug Courts)
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/testing.htm (Drug Testing)
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/rehab.htm (Treatment)
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/find?186 (Oxycontin)

NEW DRUG COURT WILL GIVE OFFENDERS A WAKE-UP CALL

PAINTSVILLE -- Some drug offenders will be dealt with a little differently 
beginning this fall with the implementation of a Johnson County Drug Court 
- - a federally funded program that gives addicts a "wake-up call" to start 
their lives over anew or jail time for those who can't stay off drugs. The 
goal of a drug court is to take non-violent drug offenders out of the 
traditional court system and make them "productive citizens" following a 
stringent, supervised program consisting of court officials who closely 
monitor the success of former addicts getting off drugs. In Eastern 
Kentucky, where last year's crackdown on OxyContin and other controlled 
prescription drugs is having detrimental effects on not only the healthcare 
system but also the judicial system, district judges John Kevin Holbrook 
and Susan M. Johnson saw the usefulness of a drug court in Johnson County.

The two judges attended orientation and interview training in January, and 
conducted a required meeting with other members of the proposed drug court. 
Those members include the judges, Clerk Vicki Crace Rice; substance abuse 
counselor Roger Pruitt, with Mountain Comprehensive Care; UK research 
representative Dr. Matthew Hiller; and public defender Greg Griffith. 
Prosecutors Scott Preston and Lynette Muncy and Sheriff Bill Witten will 
also be on the drug court team, but they were not present for Friday's 
meeting.

"The drug problem we have in Eastern Kentucky is not a moral issue," 
Holbrook said. "It's an addiction." Johnson also noted that the region's 
"unique" problem with prescription drug abuse is that many of the 
addictions start out with legitimacy - those who become addicted while 
under a physician's care. "They don't recognize the problem until it's too 
late," Johnson said. In Johnson County, more than 300 felony, 1,000 
misdemeanor and 2,000 traffic offenses were filed in 2001.

Many of the cases not directly involving drug offenses, though, are 
motivated by substance abuse, a report says. Holbrook said that more than 
350 drunk driving cases were opened in 2001 in Johnson County, and that 281 
of those cases involved drug abuse. "Obviously we can't do them all in drug 
court," Holbrook said about dealing with certain drug-related cases in the 
new court.

About 50 cases will be dealt with by the drug court at a time, the judge 
said. "If we gave every person charged with a drug offense the maximum 
(jail sentence), that's not going to solve the problem," Holbrook said 
about repeat offenders. "You're not going to get these people to not 
re-offend. An alternate solution to sending every drug offender to jail is 
to have them go through the drug court program, which consists of three 
levels of treatment and "ideally" takes up to a year to complete. Those who 
relapse or continually abuse drugs will be sent to jail for up to two years.

Failure of the program results in immediate jail time, but a participant's 
success can result on the disposal of jail terms. "That's what we face - a 
prescription drug problem," Holbrook said. A video shown by Holbrook Friday 
included the drug courts' success stories and only one case involving a 
participant who failed.

That participant was sent directly to jail, but the others received 
personal rewards for their efforts to stay off drugs. While sentencing a 
new participant to the drug court, a judge on the video warned that "if you 
think you're trying to do this to get out of jail time, forget it." One 
woman portrayed on the video said she had been busted for drug abuse 
several times and lost her children and family to the addiction. "I robbed, 
I stole...whatever it took to supply my addiction," she said. "I'm truly 
grateful...," she said. "If it hadn't been for drug court, I'd probably be 
dead and wouldn't have my baby...my family." "I didn't have a life before 
drug court," another woman said. One man who had remained "clean" for about 
15 months said, "I feel great.

I feel like I've been reborn again." A police officer on the video 
explained that the old concept of dealing with drug offenders was to arrest 
them, lock them up and throw away the key. The officer takes an active role 
now in motivating some offenders to stay off drugs and get their lives 
started over. "It's very rewarding for me to watch her doing so good," the 
officer said about a drug court participant.

Another police officer said that "what convinced me" about the success of a 
drug court was that prior to the new system of dealing with drug offenders, 
police arrested the same people over and over. Now, with the drug court, 
police are not seeing the same offenders once they completed the drug court 
program. "Seeing them actually improve in front of your eyes and knowing 
you have a hand in it, it's very rewarding," one drug court team member 
said on the video. The drug court team takes a one-on-one approach to 
dealing with each defendant.

"I think we have a responsibility to try and prevent crimes, as well as 
prosecute it," Los Angeles District Attorney Gil Garcetti said in support 
of the drug court. There are currently 482 drug courts operating throughout 
the United States. The first drug court was established in 1984 in Dade 
County, Florida, by former U.S. Attorney General Janet Reno. "It's going to 
be a success program," Holbrook said Friday about a drug court in Johnson 
County. Five Eastern Kentucky judicial districts are currently in the 
planning and development phase of drug court implementation. Counties that 
have priority for funding of the drug courts are Lewis/Greenup counties; 
Boyd County; Perry County; Floyd County; and Johnson County. The Johnson 
County Drug Court could be up and running by late September.
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