DESPITE SUCCESS STORIES, DRUG COURTS STRUGGLE TO GET FUNDING

One by one, they walked into the judge's office and said nearly the same
thing about their addiction and the Davidson County Drug Court.

''If you're sick and tired of being sick and tired, this is the place,''
said Beth Bryant, a makeup artist who had been hooked on heroin.

Bryant is one of the 120 people in Judge Seth Norman's Drug Court program,
one of only 12 such programs in Tennessee.

Drug courts around the country have largely been a success, and a recent
state comptroller's report said more are needed because nonviolent drug and
alcohol cases account for the majority of Tennessee's crimes.

Despite their success, drug courts get very little state support, and only
recently started receiving court costs in drug cases. They rely mainly on
federal grants.

''It's a constant funding game trying to find the money to keep the program
going,'' Norman said.

The Davidson County Drug Court in Nashville needed help to keep its doors
open after several of its federal grants expired. The General Assembly
rescued the court with $650,000 at the end of the session this year.

''The state pulled through ... so we can keep our doors open,'' coordinator
Jeri Bills said.

Drug courts work, Norman said, because they offer treatment and help to
people such as Patrick Foster, a 45-year-old who had been in jail at least
27 times. Or Mike Hodges, a 38-year-old who was the driver during a home
invasion.

Both were addicted to crack and both said they could feed their habit in
prison if they wanted to.

''If you wanted the drugs, they were there, and so it was really hard for
me to stay away from them,'' Hodges said.

Norman said about 95% of his former addicts were hooked on crack. But he's
helped them break their habits and has had about 300 graduates since he
began Drug Court in 1997.

Everyone in Drug Court must live at the facility for a year and continue
outpatient care.

Judge Don Ash runs a smaller drug court in Rutherford County. His program
has had 50 graduates over four years.

''We try to restructure these people's lives,'' he said. ''We move them out
of their neighborhoods, away from bad friends. We help them with their
educations and jobs.''

Neither Ash nor Norman has seen cases of methamphetamine addicts yet, but
they say their drug courts can handle those problems, too.

Norman said his program isn't without failures - about 30% of convicts go
back to jail for failing to obey the strict rules. After graduation, about
16% return to jail for drug offenses. But that's well below the national
average of 67% for people who don't go to drug court.

''There's no way to stop drugs at the borders; it just can't be done. What
you've got to do is cut off the demand,'' Norman said.