CONFERENCE BIDS TO BOOST DRUG COURTS

It's a relatively new approach to breaking the cycle of addiction and
prison, but proponents of drug-treatment courts are confident they
will become more effective - even faced with the huge problem of
crystal meth. About 500 law enforcement officials, lawyers, judges and
academics from Canada and the United States have gathered in Edmonton
for the first conference of the Canadian Association of Drug Treatment
Courts. Such courts are a relatively new phenomenon here, starting in
1998 in Toronto, but are now established in six cities.