GUILFORD LANDS U.S. FUNDING FOR DRUG COURT

GREENSBORO -- Guilford County will get $499,914 in federal grant money to
start a drug-treatment court, the Justice Department announced Friday.

Drug courts seek to treat nonviolent addicts through intensive counseling,
random urine tests and regular meetings with a judge instead of sending
them to prison.

Guilford was among 89 jurisdictions in 38 states and territories that will
receive grants for new drug courts totaling $30.9 million.

Guilford's program will be based in Greensboro and start in early 2002,
project coordinator Wheaton Pike said.

The grant money will last three years. Guilford will contribute the
equivalent of $201,446 in manpower, supplies and technical support.

"Drug courts help communities by managing offenders' behavior and breaking
the cycle of drug addiction and crime," U.S. Attorney General John Ashcroft
said.

Guilford will join Forsyth County as the second area locally to start such
a program. The state has 14 drug-treatment courts. The N.C. Administrative
Office of the Courts also received $297,516 in grant money to enhance the
state's existing programs.

Buncombe County, the only other North Carolina county seeking federal grant
money this year, lost in its bid for funding.

Under Guilford's program, 20 to 40 nonviolent addicts each year will enter
plea bargains and then undergo intensive counseling. They will meet with
the same judge every other week and meet with a case manager or probation
officer at least once a day during the first 90 days. They must also attend
community support groups such as Narcotics Anonymous and Alcoholics Anonymous.

If participants fail to complete the program, the deal is rescinded. Their
case is then referred to the district attorney's office with a new court
date set.

"I think it will probably fill a tremendous void in dealing with people who
have serious alcohol and drug problems," said Wally Harrelson, chief of the
Guilford County Public Defender's office.

Guilford County currently has a felony drug diversion program, a program
that targets recreational drug users and first offenders.

But the drug-treatment court will target chronic substance users who are
prison-bound.

"You can't lock everybody up," Guilford County District Attorney Stuart
Albright said. "If we can help people stop doing drugs we can stop the
repeat offenders. While they're on drugs they commit other crimes,
supposedly because of drugs."

Nearly one-third of state prisoners across the country reported they were
under the influence of drugs at the time they committed crimes, according
to a Bureau of Justice Statistics survey in 1997.

Drug-treatment programs have been shown to work, supporters said.

Across the nation, more than 70 percent of the participants are still
enrolled or graduated from the program, which is more than double the level
of traditional drug-treatment program retention rates, according to the
American University Drug Court Clearinghouse and Technical Assistance Project.

In North Carolina, the percentage of active participants, including those
who graduated from the program, was 66 percent in 2000, according to the
N.C. Administrative Office of the Courts.

"I'm ecstatic," said Guilford County Commissioner Jeff Thigpen, a member of
the county's drug treatment court management committee.

Thigpen said he saw first-hand how drugs have ruined the lives of many
people during his voluntary stay at the Guilford County jail in December.
Thigpen spent the night at the jail to experience crowded conditions there.

"I saw the faces of the people in the jail," he said. "I talked to them.
Nine times out of 10, drugs were an issue somewhere along the line."