DRUG USAGE HIGH AMONG PROBATIONEES

DURHAM -- Almost a third of people on probation in Durham test positive for
drug use, a figure slightly higher than the state average but one that
doesn't alarm local officials.

"It's lower than I would have anticipated," District Attorney Jim Hardin
Jr. told The Herald-Sun.

James Ellis, district manager for probation matters in Durham, said he's
not alarmed but doesn't find the figures encouraging, either.

"The drug problem has been escalating all along," Ellis said. "I believe
drug use is the root of most of our problems as relate to crime. I don't
know what we can do about it. It's an ongoing battle for the judicial system."

The most recent statistics available show positive drug tests in Durham
31.6 percent of the time. Statewide, it is 27 percent.

Ellis said 4,681 people are on probation here and that most - but not all -
are subject to weekly drug screenings.

When probationers test positive for drugs, their probation can be revoked,
and they can be sent prison. But that does not always happen.

"We try to exhaust all treatment efforts before reporting a person back to
court," Ellis said. "We try to employ treatment first. If people
acknowledge they have a problem and want help, we try to work with them."

Assistant District Attorney Michael Moore, the prosecutor for a special
drug court in Durham, said Friday it would be ideal if no one on probation
ever tested positive for drugs.

"But with the caseload of our probation officers as high as it is, I am not
surprised the failure rate is 31 percent," Moore said. "It's not easy to
get off drugs once you get on them. It's not uncommon for an addict to
relapse."

District Court Judge Marcia Morey, who presides over a drug treatment court
for juveniles, described the 31 percent failure rate as "surprisingly low."

"I think it shows progress if less than a third of those with known drug
problems test positive," she said.

Morey said her relatively new juvenile treatment court has shown even
better results.

According to her statistics, 170 drug tests have been administered with
only 32 failures since the court opened last November - a failure rate of
less than 20 percent.

"The other side of the coin is that 138 people passed," Morey added.
"That's pretty good."