A SMART APPROACH TO NONVIOLENT DRUG OFFENDERS

While government statistics indicate that drug use is down when compared to
the Studio 54 days of the late '70s, the use of illegal drugs among adults
the past few years hasn't gone down but merely remained stable, and
teenagers smoked marijuana in 1999 at almost twice the rate they did seven
years earlier.

So, it's not a stretch to conclude our proverbial war on drugs could use a
little reworking, including an evaluation of the punishment given to those
unlucky drug offenders who find themselves facing state-sponsored
incarceration in facilities often already overburdened and overcrowded.

That's why the implementation of the Washington County Drug Treatment
Court, which recently saw its first graduate, is an important step in
re-evaluating how we handle certain drug offenders.

Only the second of its kind in the state, the program is a prejudgement
diversion program designed for nonviolent drug offenders who aren't
dealers. If candidates -- Circuit Chancery Judge Mary Ann Gunn's preferred
term -- successfully complete the drug treatment program, the charges
against them are dropped, jail time is avoided and expense is reduced.

Sound too easy? That's what Gunn thought, too. Initially, she said she
didn't believe in the concept of drug court, preferring a "do-the-time"
approach instead. But after dealing with program participants, she's
changed her mind. Apparently it was their dedication that swayed her.

And dedication is what it takes to get through the program -- all the way
through, without messing up and thus heading for that state-sponsored home
away from home.

Candidates must agree to participate in a three-phase program that includes
getting sober, taking a multitude of drug tests, addressing problems that
triggered the drug abuse in the first place, finishing their high school
education and mentoring other drug court participants.

It does, indeed, as Gunn says, require a "lifestyle change."

And shouldn't that be the ultimate goal for such nonviolent offenders?
After all, how does it help them or the rest of us if jail time is merely a
vacation -- if that really occurs, that is -- from drug use?

Consider this: The Drug Court Clearinghouse and Technical Information
Project at American University reports the recidivism rate five years ago
for those who completed drug court monitored treatment programs was 4
percent. It soared to 45 percent for those who received traditional short
prison terms or probation.

Drug courts, or versions thereof, are popping up in other parts of the
country, too. California voters just passed Proposition 36, which mandates
drug treatment and probation for nonviolent drug offenders and will affect
about 36,000 people convicted for first-or second-time drug use or
possession. Voters approved a similar measure in Arizona four years ago.

Seems like Washington County is on to something.

Fortunately, the state Department of Health's Bureau of Alcohol and Drug
Abuse thought so, too, and kicked in enough money recently to keep the
program going after a federal grant failed to materialize. With the number
of drug court participants expected to grow from the current 22 to more
than 100, the need in our county -- which won't stop at 100 -- can't be
addressed without funding.

But the money runs out in less than a year, which is why we hope Gov. Mike
Huckabee will contemplate providing permanent funding in the next budget
request.

Think of it this way: It's not really a question of sympathy but rather
practicality. Even those with a punish-'em-by-golly attitude should
recognize that moving nonviolent drug offenders through the system once and
less expensively as opposed to over and over at more cost would appear to
be a better use of taxpayer money.

It's won't always work, but monitored treatment certainly seems a more
effective approach than clogging our prisons with nonviolent drug offenders
for whom other remedies exist.