Pubdate: Mon, 02 May 2005
Source: Ottawa Citizen (CN ON)
Copyright: 2005 The Ottawa Citizen
Contact:  http://www.canada.com/ottawa/ottawacitizen/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/326
Author: Randall Denley
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/find?159 (Drug Courts)

DRUG COURT MAKES SENSE

Ottawa councillors decided this week to have city staff investigate a drug 
court, where accused facing drug and drug-related charges can be diverted 
to addiction treatment, rather than jail.

Councillors are a little late getting on the bandwagon, not that they seem 
to know there is one. The federal government has already received a drug 
court proposal from a broad-based Ottawa group that involves judges, Crown 
attorneys, defence lawyers and drug treatment agencies. Among it supporters 
are police Chief Vince Bevan and medical officer of health Rob Cushman.

If Councillor Rick Chiarelli had done a little research, he'd have known 
that this good idea is already being pushed by the people most familiar 
with the city's drug problem.

Ottawa's attempt to get a drug court has actually been kicking around for 
more than two years. This is the second attempt to get federal money. 
Ottawa is competing against other cities for the drug court funding in what 
is expected to be a three-city Justice Department pilot project. Toronto 
and Vancouver already have drug courts.

It's not difficult to see why there is such broad support here for this 
idea. It just makes sense.

The drug court is not meant to benefit violent criminals or drug lords, but 
rather low level traffickers, youths and people committing crimes because 
of an underlying problem with addiction.

"There is only so much you can do by way of jail," says Ontario Court 
Justice Peter Wright, one of the more prominent advocates of the drug 
court. He sees the same people over and over in his court. They are 
breaking and entering to get things they can sell for drugs, or even 
stealing food. The courts will jail them for a couple of weeks or a month, 
then they are back on the street, committing more crimes to feed their 
addiction.

"It's a revolving door," Wright says. And an expensive one. Between court 
and jail costs, these low-level addict/criminals cost a lot of money, but 
the court appearances and jail time aren't doing anything to stop them or 
improve their situation. These same people are a drain on the health care 
system, too, and a problem for the victims of their petty crimes.

"You get this ripple effect of harm that the drug treatment court will 
hopefully reduce," Wright says.

Now, the court can order probation and counselling, but the probation 
officers are overworked. It can be a week or two before the drug user even 
has to report to his probation officer. In that time, they get right back 
into using.

The drug court would sentence them to counselling, and they would be taken 
straight to a detox or residential program.

It will be a one-year program, with regular supervision and checks on 
progress. It's not just drug counselling, either. The goal is to get the 
person properly housed and in school or working. They can't shake their 
addictions without changing their lives, says Paul Welsh, executive 
director of the Rideauwood addiction treatment centre. His organization 
will supply the counselling.

When a person has been arrested, there is an opportunity to persuade them 
to straighten out. The threat of a jail sentence can be persuasive, but the 
offender must still agree to take the treatment. It must also be 
recommended by the police or the Crown attorney.

The Ottawa proposal requests $500,000 a year from the federal government 
and will help 40 people at a time, between 120 and 160 a year. It's aimed 
at youth and the hard core repeat offenders, people they have tried 
everything else with, Wright says.

The drug court program would make a small addition to the limited supply of 
drug treatment available in Ottawa. Provincial budgets for addiction 
treatment have been frozen for 13 years, Welsh says, but demand has 
increased 300 per cent over that time. His agency sees about 1,000 people 
annually ages 14 to 16 years. The waiting list is double the annual 
capacity. Rideauwood also works in 18 Ottawa high schools. About eight per 
cent of high school students here are stoned between three and seven days a 
week, Welsh says. These are the adult addicts of the future, the people the 
drug court is trying to help before their addiction becomes too far advanced.

The people proposing this new program have no illusions about it being a 
wonder cure.

"No one recovers from addiction without slips or failures," Welsh says.

When one sees the key players in the police, the courts and social services 
unite behind a program that is so rational, one has to ask what the holdup 
is at the federal level. The proponents of the drug court were told that 
they would have an answer by mid-February, then by the end of April. The 
cost is inconsequential compared to the possible good. Unlike the city's 
controversial crack pipe program, the drug court offers a chance to 
actually end addiction. When will the government ante up?
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MAP posted-by: Beth