ADDICTS' TURNAROUND IS DRUG COURT'S GOAL

General Sessions Program Marks 1-Year Milestone

Christmas of 2002 was a low point in Kimberlee Stoots' life: She said
she was living on the streets, selling her body, robbing people in
Nashville's parks and just looking for her next hit of crack. She also
was suffering from ovarian cancer, which went untreated while she
smoked crack.

Her life was saved, she said, when she was arrested and went through
Davidson County's General Sessions drug court. Rather than going to
jail, offenders are steered to rehabilitation, education and training
programs - and their progress is closely monitored by the court.

This drug court - different from Criminal Court Judge Seth Norman's
program, which has received nationwide acclaim - turned 1 year old
yesterday.

"It's like they've saved my life two times," Stoots said of the drug
court officials. The court, she said, helped her not only deal with
her addiction, but with the cancer she did not want to face. She said
she has been drug-free for nine months.

"I didn't even start using cocaine until I was 30," said Stoots, who
is now 36 and recently underwent a hysterectomy and is continuing with
chemotherapy. "I didn't grow up with a family that used drugs."

She is from one of several segments of the community in the newest
drug court.

"We've got meth addicts, we've got heroin addicts, and, of course,
we've got a lot of crack addicts," said General Sessions Judge Casey
Moreland, who presides over the specialized court. "We've got a
pretty wide cross-section of our city as well. We've got folks that
are upper income; we've got some that are lower income."

It mirrors the drug problem in society, he said.

It's hard to gauge how the court is doing so far. No one has graduated
from its program because it takes so long to get through - 12 to 18
months.

So far, 66 people, drug addicts and alcoholics charged with driving
under the influence, have come into the program.

Not all of them have stayed, the judge said. He has terminated
participation by eight of them. And some, Moreland said, would rather
go to jail than go through the program.

"We had one last week who said, 'I can't do this program; I want to
go to jail,' " he said.

The benefit to the community is that the addicts don't go to jail and
cost the taxpayers money, and they get treatment for their drug
addictions, the judge said.

And while these addicts have to be facing jail time on a misdemeanor
charge - which is what General Sessions handles - there may not be
much difference between them and the felons in Judge Norman's court.

Stoots admitted she had been lucky not to have been caught doing worse
things. Many in General Sessions were either not caught with a large
enough quantity of drugs to be tried in Criminal Court, or they could
have pleaded down to a misdemeanor charge.

The program offers inpatient and outpatient drug treatment and
frequent drug screens - three to four a week.

All of the participants are monitored electronically during the first
phase of the program - something court officials learned was a
necessary component to rehabilitation. That's when offenders are most
likely to run, said Scotty Yates, a coordinator with the court.

They have to have jobs or spend their days doing community service.
They are required to get a GED if they don't have a high school diploma.

During the first phase, participants have not only the electronic
monitoring but a curfew of 7 p.m. They are offered life-skills classes
if they need them, Moreland said.

There are penalties if the participants relapse. "If they miss
treatment, they miss court - we go get them, and they go to jail,"
Yates said.

A team composed of members from the public defender's office, district
attorney's office, sheriff's department and police department, and
probation officers and a social worker meet with the judge each week
to evaluate the cases.

Moreland hopes to expand the court, allowing it to take on 100 people
at once. The court takes referrals from judges and lawyers, Yates
said. Also, anyone facing jail time for a misdemeanor can call Yates
to see about entering the program.