DRUG COURTS IN MADISON COUNTY AND ST. LOUIS GAIN PRAISE FROM FEDERAL OFFICIAL

A federal official who oversees financial help to the nation's growing
number of drug courts offered praise Friday for two in the St. Louis area.

Marilyn Roberts, director of the Justice Department's drug court office,
attended a conference in Collinsville for officials who want to start drug
courts in their communities. The Madison County drug court in Edwardsville
is a "mentor court" for the growing movement and was the first in the
bistate area.

On Wednesday and Thursday, she observed sessions of the drug courts in
Edwardsville and St. Louis. Both courts held some of their normal follow-up
hearings with defendants who are enrolled in their programs.

"Both of those courts seem to be operating well and serving their
constituencies," Roberts said. "Offenders came into the courts to see the
judges and review their progress. The judges dealt with the behavior of the
offenders.

"It seems to me that the programs here work well."

Drug courts emphasize treatment and participation in programs like
Narcotics Anonymous and Alcoholics Anonymous to stay off drugs.
Participants are people who have been accused of crimes, usually drug
possession, and who volunteer to take part rather than face standard
criminal prosecution.

If they succeed and "graduate," charges against them are erased.

The first such court began Miami in 1989. Roberts said there were 584 of
them nationwide as of last month, and each state at least has a few.

The court in Madison County began with seven defendants in March 1996. St.
Louis opened its court in April 1997, and many of the metro area counties
now have them. St. Louis County organized one in 1998, followed by St.
Charles County this year.

Madison County Circuit Judge Edward C. Ferguson, who has presided over the
drug court since its creation, said more than half of the defendants who
enrolled in the program did not complete it. But of its 135 graduates, only
three have been brought back to the court system on felony charges.

"But I believe it has been very successful," Ferguson said.

Jeff Kushner, administrator of the St. Louis drug court, said more than 900
offenders had gone through its program. He said about 250 participants had
graduated, and roughly that same number flunked out, which put them back
into the traditional court system.

About 300 are taking part now, he said. The average time of participation
is 15 months, including time with the 12-step programs, job training and
regular urine tests for drug abuse.

Kushner said the program enrolls criminal defendants who have had as many
as three arrests for felonies and who abuse drugs or alcohol. Most of the
city's participants were picked up by undercover officers who buy drugs
from street peddlers, but it also accepts defendants who are charged with
lesser, nonviolent felonies who were committing crimes to pay for drug habits.

The St. Louis drug court has an annual budget of $600,000, most of which
goes to participating drug treatment centers. The Justice Department gave
money to the city court to subsidize its first two years, but the court now
gets money through the general city budget.

Roberts, who runs the federal program, said the Madison County court did
not get federal assistance.

Local court administrators from Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Massachusetts
and New York took part in the conference this week at the Collinsville
Holiday Inn. It ended Friday.