CLAY COUNTY LOOKS AT PILOT PROGRAM FOR DRUG COURT

When Don Norris became the Clay County prosecutor about two years ago,
he was leery of drug courts that treat, rather than punish, offenders
who committed drug-related crimes.

However, Norris has changed his stance, and recently he met with
defense attorneys, judges, law enforcement officials and drug
treatment providers and discussed a pilot drug court program for Clay
County.

The program will focus on those who commit property crimes to support
their drug habits, Norris said. Violent offenders will not be included.

Drug court judges see offenders and direct them into treatment,
counseling and short jail stints -- whatever it takes to break the
addiction. Norris said he had visited some programs where drug court
officials visit the person's home on the weekend to see if they are
using drugs or drinking.

Clay County lacks the money to launch such a full-scale drug court,
said David Russell, Clay County presiding judge. Money for a clerk to
help Clay County set up one this year was in the state's proposed
budget last summer. However, state legislators slashed the money this
spring, Russell said.

Clay County officials now are searching for federal and state
grants.

Norris said he was skeptical of drug court when first taking office
because of who approached him.

"I was approached (about drug court) by a treatment provider and I
suspected they were doing it for financial gain." Norris said.

The elected official also thought charging a drug-related crime, then
dismissing it to lure a person into treatment, would not set well with
voters come re-election.

"We've had a prosecutor lose because of that (dismissing cases),"
Norris said.

Former Sheriff Bob Boydston found out about a U.S. Justice Department
drug court education program while serving on the board of Tri-County
Mental Health Services Inc.

Boydston told Norris about the program last year. Norris, as a part of
the program, this year traveled to drug courts in Pensacola, Fla., and
Los Angeles. The rest of the county's drug team, Clay County Associate
Circuit Judge Rex Gabbert, Sheriff Paul Vescovo and representatives
from Tri-County Mental Health, the Missouri Public Defender's Office
and the Missouri Division of Family Services, also have visited one or
both programs. The team is scheduled to visit a third drug court in
Fort Lauderdale, Fla., in October.

The team also has studied longstanding area drug courts in Jackson and
Buchanan counties.

"I've learned a lot about addiction," Norris said. "Punishment does
not teach (addicts) a lesson. To stop them...they have to know they
have a problem."

So far, the numbers from other drug courts support
him.

According to a study released in April by Move Up in Kansas City, 94
percent of Jackson County drug court graduates between 1995 and 1999
had not been arrested for subsequent crimes through 1999. Buchanan
County's drug court was deemed successful and has expanded to include
drunken drivers.

A 1998 study showed that Jackson County drug court at that time spent
about $2,500 per addict, but that each graduate who stayed clean for
three years saved society an estimated $30,000 in welfare, crime and
prison costs.

Clay County has not decided how it will operate its drug court,
Russell said.

Russell said Norris wants participants to first plead guilty and be
treated as a part of their probation. The case would be closed to the
public after treatment but still would show up as a conviction when a
police officer checks records during a traffic stop, for instance.

The public defenders think a person who completes drug treatment
should not have to live with a conviction, Russell said.