CUYAHOGA COUNTY JUDGES APPROVE DRUG COURT

Cuyahoga Will Set Up Treatment Program

Cuyahoga County judges didn't let the chance to start a drug court
slip through their grasp a second time.

Common Pleas Court judges unanimously voted in favor of a countywide
drug court this week - 11 years after voting against such a measure.
Court officials hope the treatment program will be up and running
within a year.

"We are not going to be soft on crime," Court Administrator and
former Common Pleas Judge Tom Pokorny said. "We are going to be
smart on crime."

Drug court is a yearlong treatment program for nonviolent drug
offenders. Participants must submit to random drug tests, counseling
and job training. If they graduate, charges are dismissed. If they
fail, they serve out their sentences.

County judges rejected a federal grant to start a drug court in
1997. Some judges were uncertain about the program's merits, and
there was not much empirical data on its success at the time, said
Administrative and Presiding Judge Nancy McDonnell.

Cleveland Municipal Judge Larry Jones seized the opportunity - and
funding for the program - and started a city drug court. But it
wasn't a popular decision.

"Some people thought it was just a feel-good program," he said. "It
is very easy to have the attitude that we need to lock everybody up
and throw away the key."

The Greater Cleveland Drug Court has been changing minds ever since.
More than 700 people have graduated from drug court in the past 10
years, and more than 70 percent remain drug-free, Municipal Court
spokesman Ed Ferenc said.

Jones discussed the drug court with county judges before they voted
Tuesday. His presentation left the judges with few doubts, Common
Pleas Judge Michael Russo said.

"The current court recognizes that treatment, for those who will
benefit, is far better than incarceration," Russo said.

The county must still find money for the court and determine which
judges will run it. Court officials, however, were already excited
about the program's potential impact on the community.

"It will help people become employed," McDonnell said. "It will help
reunite families. It will give participants a renewed sense of their
ability to really beat their addiction."