NEW DRUG STRATEGIES

A Special Drug Court Offers Real Hope In Addressing A Growing County Problem

Madison County is about to try something no one else in Alabama has tried
before: using the courts to bring a rational approach to stemming drug abuse.

Judges, court officials and agencies that have to step in when drugs begin
tearing families apart have managed to grasp what demagogues and
lock-'em-up advocates have not: Regular police and judicial efforts just
don't work when it comes to drug abuse.

Before the state goes bankrupt building more jails and prisons for drug
offenders, before nonviolent drug users push violent criminals onto the
streets under bad parole decisions, before families add to the already
too-heavy burdens on our social-service agencies, Madison County will
establish a drug court that focus on interdiction and treatment.

The drug court, which will hold its first session April 30, won't impose
criminal penalties. It will, instead, "as sist with whatever it takes,"
according to District Judge Martha Lynn Sherrod.

It's the perfect example of alternative sentencing. The goal, after all, is
to change behavior. The education, treatment and employment programs - with
the power of the court always behind them - can work much better than
throwing a person with a drug problem in a cell.

At least that's the theory, and it deserves a chance to be tested.
Likewise, the agencies that have been alarmed at how the current system
abets in helping drugs destroy families should be applauded for trying to
do something beyond the Alabama norm.

This concept has worked in other places. Let's see if works here. If it
does, it will be one of the few things that Alabama, or any state, has done
effectively to curb drug abuse and the damage it causes.