DRUG COURT CELEBRATES 10 YEARS OF CHANGED LIVES

Success Stories: The Riverside County Program Helps Clients Recover
From Addiction

Anita Lucas was ending a relationship and trying to keep some kind of
visitation rights to her son, Gage, in 2003 when a test of her hair
follicles came back positive for methamphetamine.

"That's how I met Sue Ervin," she said.

Ervin has the title of drug court manager, but Lucas, 24, of
Riverside, calls her by another name. "She's almost like a surrogate
mother. She had so much faith in me. It's almost like she knew things
would be OK."

Lucas is one of the graduates of Riverside County's Drug Court
program, celebrating its 10th anniversary today with a ceremony at
the Historic County Courthouse.

For participants such as Lucas, Drug Court is a voluntary program to
rebuild a family life. For those who enter it through the criminal
system, it's often a last-ditch chance to avoid prison.

It's tough and uncompromising. Life becomes a series of mandatory
events. There are check-offs for making rehabilitation meetings and
health classes, frequent drug testing and sessions with counselors,
as well as court appearances. There's a yearlong treatment program
and another year of follow-up care.

"If I wanted to get my son back, that was the route I had to take,"
said Lucas, who graduated from the program in June . "It wasn't easy.
It still isn't."

There are now four types of drug courts in Riverside County for adult
criminals, juvenile delinquents, family law and dependency. A fifth
court, dedicated to family preservation, begins Monday. Programs are
in Riverside, Indio, Hemet and the Southwest Justice Center in Murrieta.

In the dependency program, 94 parents have reunited with their
families, which include 242 children, said Pamela Miller,
collaborative justice coordinator for the court. The drug-court
programs being acknowledged today are separate from the Prop. 36
programs which began in 2001.

The Riverside County drug courts are funded through a combination of
sources, such as a $1.2 million federal grant for the dependency
court. There is also support from various agencies, including the
county Department of Social Services.

Outside groups also contribute.

The Riverside County Bar Association, for instance, pays for drug
testing for Family Drug Court participants who can't afford it. The
Riverside County Department of Mental Health contributes staff, as
does the county Probation Department.

"When we started, it was kind of fly-by-the-seat-of-your pants,
because we are different," Ervin recalled. "Many thought it wouldn't
work. Of course we've had our failures, the ones who couldn't make
it. But gosh, we have had our successes too."

Lucas is one. She managed to pull herself back from a drug-test
failure six months into the program. Lucas said she voluntarily went
into a live-in rehabilitation center for 90 days.

That seemed to help her turn the corner, recalled Ervin.

"When she walked into the courtroom we literally dropped our mouths"
at how changed she was, Ervin recalled by phone. "She looked so young
and so beautiful and so changed -- her face, her body, everything."

Tough Review

For criminal candidates, there's a tough scrutiny before they can
enter the program. They only get in with approval from the district
attorney, their defense attorney and the probation department, said
Judge Paul Dickerson, Drug Court Oversight Committee chairman.

Violent offenders need not apply.

If the defendant is admitted, the consequences are clear: "If you
complete this program, you are going to have a chance at life,"
Dickerson said. "If you don't, you are going to state prison."

Dickerson, who handled Drug Court cases when he was a Riverside
County deputy district attorney before his appointment to the bench,
said it's not easy for the participants.

"It's not just the addiction you have, it's the friends you have, the
lifestyle you have, it's everything," he said by phone.

Defendants enter a guilty plea to get into the program. If they
succeed, the charge and the sentence can be reduced.

Coming Back

Lucas has worked her way back from highly supervised visits with
Gage, now 3, to joint legal custody. "My son's father said he is so
proud and isn't worried" about her unsupervised time with Gage.

In addition to a better life with her son, Lucas said she has a
part-time job now and just bought a car. And she still calls Sue
Ervin to tell her how things are going.

"If you want to change your life, you are going to have to change
everything in your life," Lucas said.