DRUG COURT SHOWS PROMISE FOR TREATING OFFENDERS

Transcript reporter Jane Glenn Cannon's feature story Sunday on the
Cleveland County drug court called our attention to a program we knew
little about, but one whose goals we highly approve.

We don't think we're being bleeding hearts in opposing long-term
incarceration for nonviolent drug- and alcohol-related offenses. It's
expensive, and it doesn't appear to work very well if the goal is for
the offender to become a sober, productive member of society.

The drug court offers the individual a chance to avoid prison by
changing the behavior and attitudes that brought him or her into the
judicial system. It requires a time investment in following each
defendant's progress, but it shows promise that the investment will
pay off.

As Ms. Cannon wrote, "This is a defendant under a microscope, behavior
modification at its most intense. This is drug court, and its success
rate is proportional to how personal it gets between each client and
the court."

Accepting responsibility for one's choices and taking control of one's
own recovery are important aspects of the program. Drug court team
member Steve Nelson told The Transcript, "For some of these people,
this is the first time they've had to be accountable for their behavior."

An example of the court's holding clients accountable was the man who
missed his counseling appointment because it was raining and he didn't
want to get wet, then showed up the following day without an
appointment demanding to be seen. The drug court didn't let him get
away with this rationalization, and rightly so, because a person who
adopts the attitude that unfortunate circumstances wipe out the rules
is not going to stay sober when misfortune hits - as assuredly it
will, because bad luck, like the rain, falls on everybody.

The Cleveland County drug court has only been in operation since
February, so there are no statistics yet on how effective it is at
turning people's lives around, but it's modeled on programs that have
proved successful in treating habitual offenders whose main problem is
substance abuse. What we've seen of the program so far gives us hope
that it will prove equally successful here.