NON VIOLENT OFFENDERS GET ALTERNATIVE TO PRISON

The first day of the new Drug Court got off to a relatively smooth start
yesterday.

Six applicants were brought before Judge Gerard Haughton, who requested
that each of them be assessed by medical staff to see if they were suitable
for the Drug Court's programme.

The Drug Court offers a supervised treatment and rehabilitation regime to
non violent drug offenders instead of a prison sentence.

"This is not going to be easy; it's not supposed to be easy, but with help
you will be able to get through it, if you want to," said Judge Haughton to
one of the defendants, Gregory Walsh.

He remanded each of the six defendants to be assessed by the court's
designated nurse, Nina Smith, and one of the court's two assigned probation
officers, Jim Corbett and Irene Christey. All six defendants were ordered
to appear before his court again tomorrow, when a decision will be made
whether to formally accept them on to the court programme.

One of the six, Pearl Dunne, will not be accepted because she does not live
in the north inner city. All applicants for the Drug Court programme, which
is being run on a pilot basis for 18 months, must be living in the north
inner city area of Dublin.

However, Judge Haughton said he would still supervise Dunne's progress in
treatment.

Judge Haughton told applicant Paul Bewley that his probation report showed
he had failed to keep a number of appointments. Judge Haughton told Bewley
that there would be many appointments with the Drug Court, and that he
would run into serious difficulty if he missed them.

Judge Haughton told Gerard McManus that he had a big police file and warned
him he would be facing a fairly lengthy sentence if he was not serious with
the Drug Court.

Concluding the first day, Judge Haughton said: "it's not a bad start. We
have to learn to crawl before we can walk, and walk before we can run."

However, the court still faces some difficulty, with doctors working in
drug treatment centres refusing to take on any addicts who are not already
in treatment.

Some of yesterday's applicants are not on a treatment programme.

The doctors are in negotiations with the Northern Area Health Board in an
effort to resolve the dispute, which centres around working conditions.