SUFFOLK DRUG COURT JOCKEYS FOR FUNDING

SUFFOLK - For most of Connie Riddick's 35 years, his family didn't want
anything to do with him.

"Mostly," he said, "they didn't want anything to do with the drugs."

Or the lies he often told. Or the crimes he regularly committed. Or the
lifestyle that surrounds the cocaine that had long been the most important
thing to him.

But last week, thanks in part to Suffolk's rigorous drug-court program,
Riddick finally told the truth. He admitted to Circuit Judge Westbrook
Parker to "having used" cocaine even after his recent acceptance into the
program.

He was lucky to have gotten that opportunity to come clean - the first
step, Parker said, to curing an addiction.

Riddick is the newest of six participants in the drug court, which was
launched in May 2004 . The court's administrators hope to expand the
program - if they can find the money.

Earlier this year, Del. S. Chris Jones, R-Suffolk , introduced an amendment
to the state's budget that would have given the drug court $182,000 . The
funding was rejected.

Currently, the program operates on such a shoestring that administrators
frequently use their own money to buy movie tickets or restaurant gift
certificates as incentives for the participants to stay clean.

Drug courts, an innovative way to help nonviolent addicts kick their habit,
have proven successful around the country.

Instead of incarceration, participants are required to attend weekly court
proceedings, enroll in treatment programs such as Narcotics Anonymous, find
a steady jobs and stay clean.

"This is not a get-out-of-jail-free card," said Parker, who was
instrumental in getting the court started in Suffolk.

Patty Gilbertson , president of the Virginia Drug Courts Association, said
her group has been lobbying for more money for Suffolk's program, which has
already been turned down for one federal grant.

"Federal grants are very competitive," Gilbertson said. "And money is tight
everywhere."

For now, city departments involved in Suffolk's program have simply
absorbed the costs into their budgets.

"Norfolk did the same thing," Gilbertson said. "There was no money, but the
judge said they were going to do it anyway."

When Chesapeake's drug court, which will be as small as Suffolk's, opens
this summer, every city in Hampton Roads will have such a program.

The funding shortage has forced Suffolk's court to be more selective than
it would like. It can handle a maximum of eight participants at a time.

To qualify, participants must have been arrested recently for a drug-
related offense.

"We are limited on the number of people we can accept," said Karen Nicely ,
program coordinator of outpatient services with the Western Tidewater
Community Services Board. "We've had such a problem in this community with
drugs for so long that people now have lengthy problems."

Probation violators can't apply. If they could, Nicely said, the court
would be turning away dozens of qualified candidates.

In 2003, when Suffolk's population grew by 22.1 percent, substance-abuse
cases handled by the Western Tidewater Community Services Board increased
by 41.7 percent.

During the same period, the number of drug-related cases the courts
referred to the board rose by 11 percent.

So far, because the program is so small, there have been few problems
finding treatment and temporary detox services for the offenders.

People and companies who believe in the drug-court treatment have been
donating services.

"But that's because we have six people," said Jerri Eure, Suffolk's
criminal justice planner . "It's easier to find those little godsends for
six people rather than 50."

Finding housing and transportation have been the biggest challenges.
Sometimes, the first step in helping addicts is to get them away from the
drug environment. But that can be difficult if there's no money to help
them settle into a new place or to get them back and forth to court and
counseling sessions.

Gilbertson, the Virginia Drug Courts Association president, said the
prospects for programs like Suffolk's improved last year with the General
Assembly's passage of the Drug Court Treatment Act.

The measure, she said, created an administrative home for state programs
under the Virginia Supreme Court, giving it control of the pool of money
set aside for drug courts.

"What we are hoping to do is bring more money into that pool so other
areas, like Suffolk, can get more stable funding," Gilbertson said. "We're
all rallying around Suffolk because we know they have a good program."

It's people such as Riddick, with lifelong addictions, who would benefit if
more money could be found.

"I'm starting to feel good about myself," Riddick told Kenny Miller ,
another participant, shortly after admitting to his drug use. Riddick knew
he had messed up.

"But I'm being honest about having a problem," he said. "And if I can't be
honest with myself, how can I be honest with others?"

Miller, who has been clean for months, smiled. "Then it's working," he
said. "You've got to let it work."