DRUG COURT MAKES SENSE

Ottawa councillors decided this week to have city staff investigate a drug
court, where accused facing drug and drug-related charges can be diverted
to addiction treatment, rather than jail.

Councillors are a little late getting on the bandwagon, not that they seem
to know there is one. The federal government has already received a drug
court proposal from a broad-based Ottawa group that involves judges, Crown
attorneys, defence lawyers and drug treatment agencies. Among it supporters
are police Chief Vince Bevan and medical officer of health Rob Cushman.

If Councillor Rick Chiarelli had done a little research, he'd have known
that this good idea is already being pushed by the people most familiar
with the city's drug problem.

Ottawa's attempt to get a drug court has actually been kicking around for
more than two years. This is the second attempt to get federal money.
Ottawa is competing against other cities for the drug court funding in what
is expected to be a three-city Justice Department pilot project. Toronto
and Vancouver already have drug courts.

It's not difficult to see why there is such broad support here for this
idea. It just makes sense.

The drug court is not meant to benefit violent criminals or drug lords, but
rather low level traffickers, youths and people committing crimes because
of an underlying problem with addiction.

"There is only so much you can do by way of jail," says Ontario Court
Justice Peter Wright, one of the more prominent advocates of the drug
court. He sees the same people over and over in his court. They are
breaking and entering to get things they can sell for drugs, or even
stealing food. The courts will jail them for a couple of weeks or a month,
then they are back on the street, committing more crimes to feed their
addiction.

"It's a revolving door," Wright says. And an expensive one. Between court
and jail costs, these low-level addict/criminals cost a lot of money, but
the court appearances and jail time aren't doing anything to stop them or
improve their situation. These same people are a drain on the health care
system, too, and a problem for the victims of their petty crimes.

"You get this ripple effect of harm that the drug treatment court will
hopefully reduce," Wright says.

Now, the court can order probation and counselling, but the probation
officers are overworked. It can be a week or two before the drug user even
has to report to his probation officer. In that time, they get right back
into using.

The drug court would sentence them to counselling, and they would be taken
straight to a detox or residential program.

It will be a one-year program, with regular supervision and checks on
progress. It's not just drug counselling, either. The goal is to get the
person properly housed and in school or working. They can't shake their
addictions without changing their lives, says Paul Welsh, executive
director of the Rideauwood addiction treatment centre. His organization
will supply the counselling.

When a person has been arrested, there is an opportunity to persuade them
to straighten out. The threat of a jail sentence can be persuasive, but the
offender must still agree to take the treatment. It must also be
recommended by the police or the Crown attorney.

The Ottawa proposal requests $500,000 a year from the federal government
and will help 40 people at a time, between 120 and 160 a year. It's aimed
at youth and the hard core repeat offenders, people they have tried
everything else with, Wright says.

The drug court program would make a small addition to the limited supply of
drug treatment available in Ottawa. Provincial budgets for addiction
treatment have been frozen for 13 years, Welsh says, but demand has
increased 300 per cent over that time. His agency sees about 1,000 people
annually ages 14 to 16 years. The waiting list is double the annual
capacity. Rideauwood also works in 18 Ottawa high schools. About eight per
cent of high school students here are stoned between three and seven days a
week, Welsh says. These are the adult addicts of the future, the people the
drug court is trying to help before their addiction becomes too far advanced.

The people proposing this new program have no illusions about it being a
wonder cure.

"No one recovers from addiction without slips or failures," Welsh says.

When one sees the key players in the police, the courts and social services
unite behind a program that is so rational, one has to ask what the holdup
is at the federal level. The proponents of the drug court were told that
they would have an answer by mid-February, then by the end of April. The
cost is inconsequential compared to the possible good. Unlike the city's
controversial crack pipe program, the drug court offers a chance to
actually end addiction. When will the government ante up?