MISSOURI'S DRUG COURTS CHALLENGE TEENS TO QUESTION WAYS OF BELIEVING, BEHAVING

BENTON, Mo. - When 17-year-old Raif was moved out of the juvenile court
system into drug court a year ago, he thought life had just gotten easier.

"I thought I was getting a slap on the wrist," said Raif, who had been
arrested on a charge of misdemeanor marijuana use. "I figured we'd go into
these treatment sessions and watch movies."

Not quite. He was told to give urine samples three times a week, not
including spot-checks. He met twice weekly with other teen-age boys who
were made to challenge each other about the relevancy of their drug use.

When he relapsed, Raif was sent to Scott County Judge David Dolan the same
week.

Before Dolan helped start the state's first juvenile drug court, in two
southeast Missouri counties, several weeks could go by before a juvenile
caught with drugs went to court.

As president of the state's National Association of Drug Court
Professionals, Dolan will speak at a conference in San Francisco this week.
He will tell those attending how to start drug court associations in their
states.

In Missouri, the number of drug courts is growing. The state now has 25,
with four other juvenile courts in the city of St. Louis and in Cole,
Jackson and Newton counties. More are coming, said Ann Wilson, alcohol and
drug abuse coordinator for the state court administrator's office.

Since Dolan began his drug court in 1996 for Scott and Mississippi
counties, about 10 youths a year have gone through the program. Of them,
only one was arrested again, but not on a drug charge, the judge said.

The idea for a drug court in the region arose because of a lack of prison
space and treatment programs.

"If every drug offender was locked up, we would have to start taking the
rapists and murderers out of prisons," Dolan said. And because of a lack of
local treatment options, drug offenders in southeastern Missouri often are
sent to a residential program in the St. Louis area, where costs approach
$400 a day, Dolan said.

The drug court, Dolan said, spends between $1,500 and $2,500 a year for
each offender. And, he said, participants are three times less likely to be
arrested on new drug charges or other felonies.

Compared to the $25,000 annual cost of housing an inmate in prison, money
spent on drug courts is a huge savings, Dolan said.

Terrie McCarter handles group sessions for the drug court in Scott County.
She leads the youths through "moral reconsternation."

"That's a big word for challenging their belief system," she said. "They
have to have a reason for what they believe."

Family involvement is key, McCarter said. Families have to be a part of
their children's counseling for four hours a week.

For those caught using drugs again, punishment varies from being assigned a
research paper to public service to spending a weekend behind bars.

Raif started the program in May 1999. He graduated two weeks ago.

"I used to have this quote about doing whatever and not caring," he said.
"That's not me now."