DRUG COURTS DESERVE SUPPORT

Locking people up for non-violent drug related crimes is no longer
worth the cost in either money or human terms. It has already been
shown there are better ways to attack the problem, including diverting
non-violent drug offenders from the criminal justice and prison systems
and into rehabilitation programs.

Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee and the General Assembly are taking a
closer look at =93drug courts,=94 those programs aimed at rehabilitating
non-violent drug offenders rather than tossing them into an already
overcrowded state prison system to punish them for =93victimless=94 crimes
.

Judges, prosecutors, public defenders and counselors in Washington
County are a step ahead of the state. A program was started about nine
months ago and, although it is not officially classified as a drug
court, the concept appears to be producing positive results -- people
are getting themselves off drugs, taxpayers are saving money and there
are more jail cells available for those who should be incarcerated.

The Washington County program is aimed at keeping non-violent, first-
time drug offenders out of the traditional court system and getting
them off drugs by placing them in an intensive nine-month counseling
and supervision program.

For those who qualify, successful completion of the intervention
program will result in criminal charges being dropped. If they slip up,
they go to trial. But the primary goal is to get people off drugs and
make them responsible, productive members of society.

=93The success of drug court is that it demands a lifestyle change of
these people,=94 says Judge Mary Ann Gunn, who voluntarily administers
the program. =93It's not a slap on the wrist.=94

First-time drug offenders had been receiving probation, but the
supervision and treatment were not intensive enough to help them turn
their lives around. One mistake and they went into a prison system that
is already bursting at the seams and which does little to rehabilitate.
That does nothing to help that person's children, the work force or the
community.

=93With drug court we have an option, an alternative, and we are saving
money and helping the community,=94 according to Chief Deputy Prosecutor
John Threet.

Some benefits are intangible. An offender may not break into someone's
car because he has a drug habit to support, a family may not have to go
on state aid because the father got clean and did not go to the
penitentiary. Fewer users also cuts the demand for drugs in the
community.

But Washington County's pilot program, which works largely because of
volunteers, is hard pressed for funds. While it appears everyone favors
the concept, to date the only funding has been a federal grant to help
pay for more counselors at Decision Point.

In fact, the prosecutor's office recently announced it can no longer
afford to send a representative to drug court, prompting Judge Gunn to
vow that she will appoint a special prosecutor, another volunteer, to
assure the program continues. She also is asking for emergency funding
from the governor's office to pay someone.

Gunn and others plan to appeal to the legislature this year, at the
request of the governor's office, for more drug-court funding.

In Little Rock, the question among lawmakers has been whether the
governor is serious about funding drug-court programs with state tax
dollars in a year when the budget is tight. We prefer to look at the
situation not as spending money, but saving money because it is cheaper
in the long run than the alternative.

David Gunthrap, director of the state Department of Human Services, has
submitted a $660,000 budget to the governor that includes funding for a
second drug court in central Arkansas. The money would be used to pay
for counselors, probation services and drug testing.

Two is a start but we need more of this progressive thinking. Funding
for those in Washington County who took the initiative to start a
version of a drug court without the benefit of financial aid would be
good a start.

The governor is on the record many times as saying there should be
alternatives to prison for non-violent drug offenders. The next logical
step is for him to include funding in his budget recommendations to the
Legislature next month.