DRUG COURT BETTER THAN JAIL: LAWYER

A Windsor lawyer, tired of decades of watching the revolving door of
justice for drug addicts who commit crimes to fund their habits -- and
who are right back at it after serving any jail time -- is hoping an
alternative on the horizon.

Greg Goulin has been working for years to have a drug treatment court
created in Windsor similar to those recently established in larger
cities such as Toronto and Vancouver and which are proving to actually
make a difference.

Putting an addict in jail with no effort at rehabilitation, he said,
means not treating the problem at all.

If breaking into people's homes is what it took to feed their drug
habits before, the addicts will continue that behaviour when they get
back out, he and others arguing for a justice alternative say.

"The threat of jail is not a deterrence at all to an addictive
personality," said Goulin. In fact, he adds, jails serve as schools to
educate younger offenders on how to perfect their criminal ways.

On Aug. 10, the Department of Justice announced it would be putting
out a call for proposals this fall for organizations and
municipalities to apply for federal funding to establish their own
drug treatment courts.

"This is great," said Goulin, part of a local group that has been
lobbying for years for such a facility.

His optimism is guarded, however, because of worries the new monies
may already be earmarked for bigger population centres.

"Maybe the greatest need is concentrated in the largest metropolitan
centres, but smaller centres have a need as well," he said, adding
Windsor's drug and crime statistics, on a per capita basis, are just
as bad as in the big cities.

The drug court begun in Toronto in 1998 offers non-violent offenders
whose criminal activity is related to their drug use a chance to enter
a treatment program rather than taking the normal course through the
justice system.

After pleading guilty, the accused is sent into treatment for a year
or 18 months and is plugged into the existing social services network
to help become re-established and productive in the community.

The court closely monitors progress and requires regular drug tests.
The whole process requires dedicated court personnel.

A survey showed fewer than 12 per cent of the Toronto program's
graduates went on to reoffend, compared to 72 per cent of those who
were not accepted into the program.

Windsor police, who admit they solve less than 20 per cent of local
burglaries, complain they keep seeing the same offenders recommitting
such crimes.

The city is experiencing a sustained surge in B&E crimes, with drug
abuse being a common denominator among the offenders.

"A lot of the break and enters are being committed to fund
addictions," said Goulin.

Goulin said Windsor would need very little of the promised federal
funding to launch a local drug treatment court.

Unlike the full-time courts in Vancouver and Toronto, Goulin, whose
views on the subject have been profiled in law journals and discussed
in legal circles, said smaller centres like Windsor could successfully
operate such a court on a part-time basis and on a much smaller scale.