THE LAW vs. DRUGS

"I'm sorry I'm late, I totally forgot about this meeting," said a man
in his 20s, out of breath from running up two flights of stair at the
county courthouse.

"It's going to cost you," Superior Court Judge Michael Cooper
said.

Cooper didn't sentence the man to jail or heavily fine
him.

Instead, he issued work crew and public service. Here in drug court,
Cooper and a panel of law enforcement and treatment experts guide
felony drug offenders to recovery, not jail.

"Drug court is not just about beating drugs, it's about accepting
responsibility," Cooper told the man.

Drug court's rules are straightforward: Stay sober, complete drug
court and your charges are dropped. The effects are profound.

"Along the way, the principles of drug court take over and they
realize they're changing their lives," Cooper said before Tuesday's
meeting.

It's part of law enforcement's inside-out approach to addressing
Kittitas County's drug problem.

"I've been using drugs for a while," said new drug court member Tom
Lockhart. "It's time for me to stop and enter the real world and
become a productive member of society."

Participants in drug court change their demeanor when they realize
Cooper, county prosecutor Paul Sander and police officers are rooting
for them to quit using drugs and start a new life.

"These are the people they've perceived as their enemies and here
they are encouraging, supporting and uplifting them. It's very
rewarding," said Pam Stoneburg, program administrator for Cascade
Recovery Resource Center.

Since drug court started five years ago, 27 people have graduated,
which means they stayed sober for 16 months and followed stringent
rules of behavior. Of those, two have re-offended.

Drug court was formed in 2003 to address the county's meth problem.
Now, drug experts and police officers say meth is no longer the
primary drug of choice in the area.

"There's not a lot of meth anymore," said Ellensburg Police Capt.
Ross Green. "It's not as prevalent and we're going to take that as a
good sign."

Meth numbers have "dropped precipitously," according to David Albert,
senior planner and policy analyst at the Division of Alcohol &
Substance Abuse. In 2006, DASA officials reported 390 meth lab and
dump sites statewide.

In 2001, they recorded 1,941 incidents.

Drug users are not suddenly quitting, however. Police officers are
following new trends in drug use in Kittitas County.

The Ellensburg Police Department formed an Anti-Crime Unit in July
2007. Recently, officers in the unit have targeted marijuana dealers
in Ellensburg, many of whom are close to 20 years old.

"The anti-crime unit is targeting high crime areas that affect our
quality of life," Green said.

In the last eight months, drug court coordinator Emily Brown has
noticed a shift in offenders. Lately they have tended to be students
or student-aged on marijuana charges, she says.

In 2007, the unit made 29 controlled drug buys from dealers in
Ellensburg.

Youths using prescription pain medication to get high is a growing
problem as well. Statewide in 2006, 11.6 percent of high school
seniors used pain killers like oxycodone in the past 30 days to get
high, according to DASA stats.

But area experts agree that alcohol remains the most prevalent drug
in the county and state. It crosses all social boundaries and can
destroy families, said Stoneburg, who has 20 years experience in
treating chemical dependency.

Law enforcement agencies in the county are cooperating this spring to
target underage drinking. The DUI Task Force will patrol known party
and underage drinking sites.

Although outnumbered by other drug users, meth users do continue to
cause problems for law enforcement.

Most property crime in the area stems from drug users, primarily
meth, looking for ways to fund their addictions, according to Green.

"They're focused on getting their next fix. They don't seem to have
much of a conscience on where they get their funding," Green said.

Car prowlings and thefts are common crimes committed by drug users.
Green estimates 90 percent of property crimes tie into drugs.

EPD's anti-crime unit has made a significant impact on property crime
in the past three years. From July to December in the three years
prior to the unit, the average number of property crimes totaled 563.

The unit reduced property crime by 20 percent in its first year,
totaling 454 incidents.