OFFENDERS GET CHANCE TO LIVE WITHOUT DRUGS, GIVE UP CRIME

YORK - After almost two years of planning, training and hustling to find
money to pay for it, York County will start its first drug treatment court
Thursday. The treatment court was initiated by 16th Circuit Solicitor Tommy
Pope and is aimed at adult nonviolent offenders who will have to go through
rigorous drug testing, counseling and substance abuse treatment as an
alternative to criminal sentencing.

Derek Chiarenza, a Rock Hill attorney who has experience as both a
prosecutor and a defense attorney, will be sworn in Thursday as the drug
treatment court judge.

"There is definitely a need for this type of treatment court," Chiarenza said.

Pope said the drug treatment court is not an alternative to prosecuting
drug dealers but an option for offenders who might be committing other
crimes to pay for their addiction.

"This is not for people making a living selling drugs and preying off the
lives of other people," Pope said.

Prospective participants must be referred from within the criminal justice
system or from private lawyers, and applicants are screened for eligibility
by Pope, Chiarenza and program manager Janice Gillespie.

Besides York County, Greenville, Charleston and Lexington counties in South
Carolina have drug treatment courts.

Another drug treatment court in York County, for juvenile offenders, is set
to open late in 2002. State and federal grants, plus some funding from York
County, will pay for the drug treatment court's operating costs.

But this is no easy program, Chiarenza said. Offenders have to plead guilty
before starting. Their plea will be withdrawn only if they successfully
complete all requirements. Graduation requires more than a year of
intensive treatment and weekly court hearings. Failure to satisfy the
court's requirements means the plea, and any corresponding criminal
sentence, could be reinstated.

"The idea is to help these people and try and make them productive members
of society," Chiarenza said.