FIRST FIVE GRADUATE FROM DRUG COURT

Jeanette Tubbs' Drug Addiction Was Bad, Until Now.

"I lost my home, and my kids knew about my addiction and didn't want to
have nothing to do with me," she said. "Then I went to jail, but I still
didn't want to stop using drugs."

Tubbs, 47, began smoking marijuana at age 15 and later began using cocaine.

When the jail cell closed behind her, she knew she had hit bottom.

But Thursday she was feeling back on top after she graduated from the
Calhoun County Women's Drug Court, one of the first five women to complete
the program begun last year.

Tubbs, clutching flowers and her plaque, said her life is different.

"I can focus now. I am not just in the dark anymore. I am working and not
giving my money to the dope man. I feel good about myself."

Tubbs, along with Cathy Adams, Barbara Mohead, Sherry Preston and Sabrina
Watson, completed the program and received certificates, words of praise
and even a hug from Calhoun County Circuit Court Judge Allen Garbrecht
during ceremonies at the W.K. Kellogg Foundation in Battle Creek.

"These are five women living in this community who are now an asset rather
than a liability," Garbrecht told about 100 people who attended. "Their
families have a giver rather than a taker and it is a great day for each
one of you."

He said each woman can "continue to be living proof that the battle against
addiction can be won."

The court was established as an alternative to jail for nonviolent,
first-time offenders who are addicted to drugs.

The average cost of the program is $2,500 for each person enrolled,
compared with $30,000 a year if they are jailed, officials said. The
program uses a variety of community services to help the women break the
addiction to drugs, which causes them to commit other crimes.

"They have overcome what can be said is one of life's biggest hurdles,"
Prosecutor John Hallacy said.

Yvonne Blackmond, director of the Michigan Department of Community Health's
Office of Drug Control Policy, said the drug courts are "an alternative to
just locking people up." She called the graduation a "celebration of hard
work and reaching goals."

And Jackie Smith, the program coordinator for the Drug Court, said the
graduates were people who were losing control to addiction but now are
attending college and seeing their kids as their self esteem grows.

According to court officials, the program has enrolled 33 women since
January 23, 2003, and 21 remain in the program. Eight women have been
unsuccessfully discharged from the program.

Tubbs said she will remain a successful graduate.

"Every day will be hard, and I will take it each day at a time," she said.
"But I am staying positive."