DRUG COURT GIVES ADDICT PUSH INTO CLEAN LIFE INSTEAD OF JAIL

Verrico Taylor started smoking marijuana 10 years ago at the age of 14.

Next, he was snorting cocaine. An addiction to both drugs during the next
nine years cost him his education, numerous jobs and two romantic
relationships.

Taylor, who goes by the nickname "Rico," was arrested three years ago after
getting caught with marijuana, a gun and scales, used for weighing the pot
for sales. But Taylor said he was doing more smoking than selling.

He was put on probation and failed every drug test he took.

Referring to his probation officer, he said yesterday, "I was just telling
her, 'I've got a problem.' I had been smoking since I was 14 years old, so
it wasn't easy for me to just stop overnight. I was telling them, 'I need
help. I need help.' "

That help came in the form of a new misdemeanor drug court program.

Yesterday, Taylor became the first graduate of Davidson County's General
Sessions Drug Court.

While enrolled in the yearlong outpatient treatment regimen, he got his
high school diploma and a job. Just as importantly, his drug screens have
been clean for 14 months.

Unlike the county's nationally recognized felony drug court program, which
began in 1997, the General Sessions court focuses on lower-level drug users
and doesn't require participants to live full time in a treatment facility.

Proponents of the program hope that Taylor is the first of many clients who
turn their lives around and become contributing members of the community.

"He's got a job, he's supporting his children, (and) he pays taxes," said
Judge Casey Moreland, who presides over the new court. "Before that, he
didn't work. He was on probation. He was headed to jail."

Every person who gets treatment in drug court and succeeds in staying out
of jail saves Metro taxpayers $55 a day in incarceration costs, Moreland
said. A drug offender with special needs can cost taxpayers as much as $120
a day. By comparison, drug court, which uses the threat of jail, along with
inpatient and outpatient treatment programs, costs about $10 a day.

After just a year, it's too early to measure the new program's success.
Nationwide, drug court recidivism rates run between 11% and 14%, Moreland
said. The threat of jail time is what makes the drug courts so successful,
the judge said. "That's the hammer."

Taylor received his drug court diploma yesterday in front of a jammed
courtroom of about 75 people, including many other clients who hope to soon
find themselves in Taylor's shoes.

"I think it's the best alternative to jail," said Casey Torr, who has been
in the drug court since July and is trying to kick an alcohol addiction.
"These people really care about you."