DRUG COURT AWAITS NEW TREATMENT CENTER

So Far The Drug Offenders Have Been Diverted To Other Facilities Or Put In
Outpatient Care

LARGO -- Some court officials resisted opening a new Pinellas drug court
without a secure facility where the worst non-violent drug addicts could be
sent for intense treatment.

Then a non-profit group secured $1.1-million in state funding for a 75-bed
facility. Judges and elected officials embraced the drug court concept. And
in January, hundreds of people accused of drug crimes began appearing
before a circuit judge.

But six months after drug court opened, the 75-bed treatment facility still
isn't open.

Several delays in receiving state funding have postponed the opening of the
new treatment facility at 1735 Dr. M.L. King (Ninth) St. S in St.
Petersburg until July 30, when 30 beds will become open for addicts, the
group operating the facility says.

The remaining 45 beds will be available by Aug. 30, the group says. The
facility was originally slated to open at the same time as the drug court.

"The treatment facility is an integral part of drug court," said
Pinellas-Pasco Public Defender Bob Dillinger. Dillinger and others say the
drug court has nonetheless been able to place addicts in other secure
programs, though waiting lists are the norm.

Others who might normally have been placed in the secure facility have been
treated on an outpatient basis.

Nancy Hamilton, chief operating officer of Operation PAR, a non-profit
substance abuse program involved in drug court, said she has been surprised
at the success of individuals in outpatient care who were unable to land a
bed in a secure facility.

Officials at the non-profit group, Bridges of America, will operate the
treatment facility, called the Family and Substance Abuse Treatment Center.
The group says delays have been inevitable.

Some state Department of Corrections money for the facility fell through
early on, and the Legislature delayed passing a funding initiative until
late in the session, said Watson L. Haynes II, executive director of the
center.

The group also had to sweat whether Gov. Jeb Bush would veto funding. He
didn't. By mid-June, the funding was on its way, Haynes said.

The drug court, already operated in Hillsborough and Citrus counties, is
designed to send non-violent offenders, mostly addicts charged with drug
possession, to intensive treatment.

The judge assigned to the court, Circuit Judge Lauren Laughlin, oversees a
strict program of treatment and supervision for felony defendants.

The State Attorney's Office refers defendants eligible to participate in
the court. Laughlin initially estimated that up to 2,500 defendants a year
might be referred to the court.

Most of those defendants are treated on an outpatient basis, including drug
testing and counseling.

Dillinger said the numbers have been high enough that waiting lists exist
for both the inpatient and outpatient programs, which is only exacerbated
by the delay in the 75-bed facility's opening.

The length of the current waiting list could not be immediately learned.
Tom Toy, drug court coordinator, did not return a call for comment and
Dillinger did not know.

Waiting lists for inpatient treatment are expected to be the norm even when
all 75 beds become available, officials say. Addicts in the secure facility
will be treated for six months before release.

"There are more coming down than are leaving the chute," Hamilton said.
"You'll always have that situation. Hopefully, there will be more funding
and more beds in the future."