DRUG COURT CONCEPT MIGHT GO STATEWIDE

Stearns County's drug court celebrated its three-year anniversary Friday
with the graduation of four participants and by hosting a task force that
could help expand the drug-court concept statewide.

Members of the Minnesota Supreme Court's Chemical Dependency Task Force
visited Stearns County, where members heard national speakers on the topic
and saw firsthand the effectiveness of drug court. The task force, of which
Stearns County Drug Court Judge Paul Widick is a member, will make
recommendations to the full Supreme Court in January about what role drug
courts should play in Minnesota.

"Stearns County's program is very innovative. It's actually part of a
national trend in what courts are trying to do to really be more effective.
We're not very effective in handling the drug offender," said Supreme Court
Justice Helen Meyer, a liaison between the court and the task force. She
visited her native Stearns County on Friday.

The court's concept is to attack drug and alcohol crimes with treatment,
monitoring and court intervention rather than a jail or prison term.
Studies have shown that, while there is an initial cost to the program,
drug courts save money in the long run by keeping people out of prison and
preparing them to stay off drugs, Meyer said.

The key to making it work is money, and the federal funding that accounts
for 75 percent of the program's operating budget isn't likely to last forever.

So Friday's visit by the Supreme Court task force could prove influential
when it comes time for the state court system to give the Legislature its
funding priorities.

Studies have shown a link between drug courts and reduced recidivism rates,
Meyer said. And Stearns County's program is working for some offenders, she
said. It has graduated 22 participants of the more than 80 who have been
accepted into the program.

"It's working because everybody came together to solve the problem --
police, court administration, probation, the prosecutors, the public
defenders, the judges -- all sitting down at the table," Meyer said. "It's
really inspiring."

The Stearns County program has graduated 22 participants in three years,
and some of them are sticking with the program to help others. Barb Klein,
the first graduate of the program, is part of an alumni association that
mentors incoming participants, helps members who relapse and provides a
resource for new ideas on some of the most challenging cases.

As the first graduate of the Stearns program, Klein didn't have the benefit
of the alumni association, but she knows how effective it can be.

"I think that it would be extremely helpful," she said Friday. "When you
start out you're scared and probably still going through the anger and
maybe denial. It helps if you have someone, a seasoned person that has been
through it."