11 COUNTIES SEEK $9 MIL FOR DRUG COURTS

Judges who treat addicts with zoo tickets and ice cream cones want $9
million to keep Arizona's drug courts going and growing for two more years.

Federal seed money is running out for the courts in six counties that use
the treats and lots of tougher measures to keep 1,000 people out of jail
every day, said George Diaz, Supreme Court legislative officer. Five
counties want funds to open new drug courts.

Locking up first-time users instead would cost about four times the money
Diaz is seeking from the House Judiciary Committee today. Maricopa, Pima,
Coconino, Gila, Yavapai and Yuma counties want more operating funds for
their drug courts, and Apache, Graham, Greenlee, La Paz and Pinal counties
want to open new ones.

U.S. Attorney General Janet Reno started drug courts in Florida more than a
decade ago. Now 1,000 of them nationwide give non-violent users a chance to
control their addiction and clean up their criminal records.

Since 1992 users have been able to sign a contract for treatment with the
Maricopa County Drug Court to avoid a possible felony conviction and prison
sentence.

Monitored by probation officers and subject to urine testing, defendants
attend at least eight months of classes and Narcotics Anonymous meetings
and do community service.

When drug court clients graduate, probation ends and the felony charge is
reduced to a misdemeanor or erased.

Up to 80 percent succeed, Diaz said.

Peter Llamas, 43, a Phoenix theatrical stagehand, is one of them.

Llamas said he was "partying" three times a week with marijuana and cocaine
until he was pulled over by police, who found a pipe in his car.

"When I got caught, one of the hardest things was telling my son," Llamas said.

Faced with a felony conviction and three years' probation, Llamas signed a
contract for drug court instead. Besides his $40 monthly probation fee,
Llamas had to pay $16 to $20 a week for classes and group sessions that
point out a person's drug problem and show how to deal with it.

Probation officers, counselors, prosecutors and public defenders review
progress of drug court clients and report to judges. They could threaten
slackers with jail until Arizona voters passed Proposition 200 in 1996,
requiring treatment instead for first-time drug users.

So some judges give away zoo tickets, ice cream coupons and movie vouchers
as a carrot to keep addicts from walking away.

Llamas said realizing that his drug use alienated his family was enough
motivation for him.

"It's taken me 10 months," Llamas said. "I did a couple of lines and tested
positive, so I did get set back."

But on Jan. 26, Llamas will graduate. He'll get a plaque from Superior
Court Judge Eddward Ballinger and applause from a courtroom filled with
other drug users.

His conviction will become a misdemeanor and his probation will end.