Pubdate: Fri, 21 Jan 2005
Source: Kingsport Times-News (TN)
Copyright: 2005 Kingsport Publishing Corporation
Contact: 
http://gotricities.net/domains/timesnews.net/lettertoEditor.dna?action=new
Website: http://www.timesnews.net/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/1437
Author: Becky Campbell
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/find?159 (Drug Courts)
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/heroin.htm (Heroin)
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/oxycontin.htm (Oxycontin/Oxycodone)

DRUG COURT AIMS TO BREAK CYCLE OF ADDICTION, CRIME

KINGSPORT - Judge Steven Jones has seen it all too many times.

Someone gets arrested for stealing, writing bad checks, even a DUI.

They cut a deal, go to jail, get out.

Before long, however, they're back in front of Jones' bench, sometimes on 
similar charges, sometimes for more serious crimes.

But a large majority of the defendants have one thing in common - drug or 
alcohol addiction.

Without proper treatment, the person gets trapped in a cycle - break the 
law, get arrested, go to jail, get out on probation, give a dirty drug 
screen or get arrested again, and go back to jail.

"It's a revolving door, and they're caught in it," Jones said.

But a new "court" may change that for some defendants.

It's called drug court. It's not a physical court, but instead it is 
administered through general sessions court on the recommendations of a 
drug court committee.

"They're given a choice - a life-changing experience or the drugs," Jones said.

Initially, defendants see the program as a way to get help. But Jones said 
some turn away from the opportunity when they see how intensive the program is.

First of all, there is an application and interview process before the drug 
court committee. The committee can deny entry into the program or grant it.

Participants must also sign a contract agreeing to all the terms of the 
program - including lifestyle changes and promises to stay clean and find a 
job.

If a defendant gets in, there can still be jail time, and they must go 
through detoxification.

Then there's daily counseling and treatment sessions, AA or NA meeting 
attendance is required, and there are random - and frequent - drug screens.

If they have a dirty drug screen, participants are at risk of getting the 
boot out of the program, but they may be allowed to stay in but forced to 
start all over.

Often, it's back to jail.

Jones said the very first program participant couldn't handle the intensity 
of the probation and ended up in jail to serve his sentence.

"It's going to take bulldog determination to get out of the program" 
successfully, Jones said.

Jason McMurray, probation officer for drug court in Kingsport, said 
education is also part of the program.

"The most important thing I think we can get from this drug court program 
is public awareness," McMurray said.

"I was blind to the fact, before I went to college and graduate school, 
that you just couldn't quit (drugs)," he said.

"People need to understand you can't just drop OxyContin. You can't just 
drop heroin."

He agrees with Jones that jail is not the answer for addicts.

"You throw these individuals in the jail for a year, two years, five years 
or whatever, they're going to come right back out and have the same 
problem. Jail is not the answer," McMurray said.

And while one participant said he believed that he deserved jail time for 
his theft crimes, "I'm glad there was somebody there to let me not have to 
go (to jail)."

McMurray said drugs led this participant, who requested his name not be 
revealed, into crime.

"(He) wasn't a criminal. He had to become a drug addict to become a 
criminal," McMurray said.
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