DRUG COURTS: CUTTING CRIME, SAVING LIVES

For nearly four decades, Tom Psuik was everything from bookie to burglar to
pimp, just so he could feed a drug habit that during his darkest times cost
him as much as $400 a day.

But the 52-year-old Buffalo man finally got his life on track when his
crimes landed him in Amherst's drug court, where he was given a choice:
drug counseling or jail.

"This is the first time I've been clean in 40 years," Psuik said. "Now I
get up in the morning and heroin doesn't tell me what to do or where I have
to be."

Rather than getting lost among the state's packed courtrooms and prisons,
thousands of nonviolent criminals throughout Western New York eventually
could face the same court-mandated drug treatment and close judicial
supervision that Psuik received from Amherst Justice Mark G. Farrell.

If they slip up, there are swift consequences.

The state's top court officials recently proposed such court reforms -
believed to be the first such statewide initiative in the country - for
every part of the state over the next four years to deal with the alarming
number of drug offenders and drug-related crimes.

Drug arrests in New York State rose more than 400 percent during the past
20 years, to 145,694 arrests in 1999 from 27,407 in 1980, according to
statistics from the state Division of Criminal Justice Services.

But drug addiction or substance abuse is also the underlying cause for at
least 75 percent of all other crimes, local judges suggested.

"If the problem is not addressed, it will continue to have an escalating
effect," said Buffalo City Court Judge Robert T. Russell Jr.

Some question whether drug court has the answers.

And judges concede that crime or drug addiction won't be eliminated by
creating statewide drug courts, similar to those set up the past few years
in Amherst, Buffalo, Cheektowaga, Niagara Falls, Lackawanna, the City of
Tonawanda and hundreds of other localities across the nation.

But they're heartened by the results coming out of existing drug courts.

Consider:

Thirty-five percent of state drug offenders released from prison in 1998
were arrested again within a year, according to state statistics.

But only 8 percent of offenders were arrested again within a year after
graduating from Russell's Drug Treatment Court in Buffalo.

The rearrest rate is just 3 percent after going through Lackawanna City
Court Judge Frederic J. Marrano's drug court, a state report on drug courts
shows. Other local drug courts have had similar success.

"The more I see (drug court) developing, the more in favor of it I become,"
said Erie County District Attorney Frank J. Clark.

"Experience has shown us straight probation hasn't been effective and
straight incarceration hasn't been effective," said Clark, who served on a
state panel that recommended the statewide changes. "At some point we have
to wake up and recognize that if we're really going to defeat the problem,
we're going to have to break the cycle of addiction."

Procedures vary a bit from drug court to drug court, but the principle is
the same.

Drug screening and treatment for nonviolent addicts is on a case-by-case
basis and only with consent from the judge, prosecutors, defense lawyers
and counselors.

Criminals who opt for treatment - drug dealers and violent offenders are
excluded from the program - can plead guilty and are sentenced for their
crimes. Their sentences, however, are deferred pending successful
completion of a drug treatment program, which takes anywhere from six
months to more than a year.

If they successfully complete the program, they'll do no jail time.

Meanwhile, the offender's progress is closely monitored.

Routine or weekly progress visits with the judge, a counselor and drug
court supervisor are mandatory. Drug tests sometimes are done right at the
courthouse.

That's what makes drug court so different and effective, said Niagara Falls
City Court Judge Mark A. Violante.

Traditionally, Violante said, if criminals are ordered into drug treatment
as part of their sentence, judges sometimes won't know until weeks or
months later if the offenders aren't participating in the drug counseling
or back on drugs.

"The biggest factor (for a drug court's success) is the weekly judicial
monitoring," said City of Tonawanda Court Judge Joseph J. Cassata. "It's a
hands-on approach by the court. I know these defendants by their first
name. I know their families."

The statewide effort may even extend to Family Court, where drug addiction
among parents or teenagers is the root problem in many cases.

But drug court isn't easy, said Psuik.

Offenders going through the drug court program are forced to get their
general equivalency diploma and a job if they don't already have them.

Drop out of treatment, use drugs or miss court visits, and offenders are
thrown behind bars.

But Psuik saw drug court as a way for him to get help.

He had been using drugs since he was 13. Twice he almost died from drug
overdoses. He was shot twice and stabbed four times during drug deals. He
was tired of being in and out of jail. He was tired of the street life.

"I can do a year in jail standing on my head," Psuik said. "Drug court was
extremely hard, because I had to face myself. In the life of a junkie, you
never want to look in the mirror."

There are some hurdles ahead if drug courts are set up statewide.

While advocates predict more drug courts mean fewer prisoners and millions
of dollars in state savings, the initial start-up cost for a statewide
program is pegged at $18 million.

And some people question whether there are enough vacancies in drug
treatment programs to handle everyone sent from drug courts.

In addition, some fear that judges may be too quick to sanction offenders
who stumble while in the rehab program.

"It takes a very special judge to do this," said Mark J. Mahoney, a Buffalo
criminal attorney. "It requires a judge who really understands the
debilitation of addiction."

But there are no objections from Psuik.

Psuik said he has been clean for a year now. He plans to attend Erie
Community College to be a counselor, so he can help drug addicts. He
recently graduated from Amherst Drug Court.

As Psuik stood in front of a packed courtroom to receive his drug court
diploma from Farrell one recent evening, there were at least five of
Psuik's old acquaintances in the room who had bet Psuik he wouldn't last
two weeks in drug court.

Psuik proved them wrong, but said he won't collect on the bet.

"I'm happy," he said. "I'm back with my family. I've got self-respect, and
I've earned it."