SOBER GRADS TOLD TO SPREAD WORD

Once they were addicts.

Now they are teachers.

After 18 months in San Joaquin County's drug-court program, 42 graduates
sat on the stage Thursday at Stockton's Fox California Theatre and listened
to county supervisors, a judge and the sheriff encourage them in their
journey ahead.

"There's a lot of young people out there who need you," Supervisor Steve
Gutierrez said. "Please, sit down with them and tell them your story. Don't
let anything get in your way."

Founded in 1995 as an extension of a successful drug-treatment program
started in Dade County, Fla., San Joaquin County's program seeks to divert
hard-core drug users from jail. The district attorney's office refers
addicts to the drug court, housed in the San Joaquin County Courthouse in
downtown Stockton.

After 16 months of sobriety, Freddie Osborne, 47, is one of the program's
stars.

"My life was unmanageable. I was running the streets. I didn't know if I
was living or dying," he said. "My family is proud of me now. Now I can
hold my head up."

Since its inception, the program has graduated 328 students, resulting in a
total of 158 years' worth of suspended County Jail time. Total state prison
sentences suspended equal 85 years, while officials claim a recidivism rate
of 11.5 percent.

Superior Court Judge Rolleen McIlwrath presides over drug court and offers
candidates an intensive treatment program instead of incarceration in
exchange for pleading guilty to drug-possession charges. Friday, she hugged
graduates, gave out certificates of completion and praised their hard work.

Had these graduates not participated in drug court, McIlwrath could have
sentenced them to a total of 18.3 years in County Jail and 12.4 years in
state prison.

"These people ... are threatening my job security," San Joaquin County
Sheriff Baxter Dunn joked during his remarks at the ceremony. "Jails are a
growth industry. I may have to hang a 'vacancy' sign out in French Camp."

Perhaps drug court's most important impact is on the 15 drug-free babies
who have been born to mothers who were once addicts.

"That's just worth it all," Dunn said.

More than 66 percent of the latest drug-court grads work full time or are
in school -- or both. And 45 percent submitted no positive drug tests the
entire year in the program.

Natalie Abbott was one such graduate.

"The most important thing I learned in drug court was that my name is
Natalie, and I'm an alcoholic," she told a crowd of more than 300 after she
accepted her certificate. Urging others to stay clean by finding a sponsor,
she thanked drug-court counselors, McIlwrath and the entire drug-court staff.

She also thanked her daughter, who had begun to travel down a similar road
before Abbott's arrest and enrollment in drug court.

"She was right there alongside me" taking drugs, Abbott said. "But drug
court saved my life. I think that's a wonderful thing."

A proposition on the November ballot could mandate such treatment programs.
Proposition 36 would mandate treatment instead of incarceration for first-
and second-time, nonviolent drug offenders.

But according to McIlwrath, Proposition 36 would obliterate drug court and
other similar programs throughout the state.

"It would definitely destroy the whole philosophy of drug court," McIlwrath
said.

That's because treatment would not be tied to potential incarceration if
Proposition 36 passed.

Instead, those eligible could receive drug treatment for a year, followed
by six months of counseling. If passed, the law would cost the state $60
million in the first year and $120 million a year thereafter until 2006. It
would then be up to the governor and the Legislature to find funds for the
program.

"The combination of treatment with the courts works," McIlwrath said. "It's
been so successful that the whole nation is starting to handle all of the
cases through drug court."

Past graduates showed up to cheer the newest success stories. Jim Carlson,
44, made the trek from Placerville to attend his eighth drug-court
graduation since he completed the program in 1997.

"This gave me my second chance," Carlson said. "But you've got to want to
do the program. You've got to want to change."

* To reach reporter Linda Hughes-Kirchubel, phone 546-8297 or e-mail
lkirch@recordnet.com