Pubdate: Sat, 04 Jun 2005
Source: Ottawa Citizen (CN ON)
d0f9-4597-9565-1d503e0e7bbc
Copyright: 2005 The Ottawa Citizen
Contact:  http://www.canada.com/ottawa/ottawacitizen/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/326
Author: Paula McCooey

NEW DRUG COURT WILL BE 'GREAT FOR THE COURTS, AND FOR THE CITY'

Judge hails funding as long overdue way to help drug addicts

The funding for a new drug treatment court in Ottawa was announced this week
by the federal government.

Justice Minister Irwin Cotler and Health Minister Ujjal Dosanjh said
Thursday that $13.3 million would be spent over four years to help establish
four new drug-treatment courts in Ottawa, Edmonton, Regina and Winnipeg.

This program is a continuation of the drug-treatment strategy already in
place in Toronto and Vancouver. It is aimed at reducing the number of drug
addicts who regularly rotate through the court system.

"These new drug treatment courts reflect a widely shared recognition --
among governments, social service providers, community organizations, and
other partners -- that crime can be reduced by tackling its root causes,"
said Mr. Cotler. "When non-violent criminal conduct is motivated by an
addiction to drugs, treatment rather than incarceration can help addicts
break their cycle of dependency and become more productive members of their
community."

Ontario Court Justice Peter Wright, who is on the Ottawa drug-treatment
court committee, along with the city's chief medical officer of health,
Robert Cushman, and Police Chief Vince Bevan, says the funding is needed to
give those who can't escape their drug dependencies a chance to recover. He
said that the drug court will operate out of the Elgin Street courthouse,
possibly as soon as the fall.

"It's been a long time, a number of years, that we've been working on the
project and the proposal, and it's just going to be great for the courts,
and for the city."

Judge Wright said those would work in the criminal courts for a long time,
whether judges, lawyers, police officers, probation officers or social
workers, develop a sense of frustration when dealing with drug-addicted
offenders.

"Addicts are breaking into cars, stealing CDs, pawning them so they can feed
the habit," he said. "And probably any day of the week in our guilty plea
court you'll see individuals who are making a plea that they have a problem
and they want to get help for it."

Under this new program, a drug addict convicted of an offence will have the
opportunity to join the one-year program during which time he or she will be
closely monitored by the courts and subject to group counselling sessions,
medical attention and random drug tests.

"The long-term benefits are big savings to the public in terms of jail,
cutting out all future court appearances and a savings to the community in
terms of people not being victimized," said Judge Wright.
- ---
MAP posted-by: Josh