DRUG COURT REDUCES REPEAT OFFENDERS

Use drugs, get caught, do time.

It's the traditional method used to deal with those who abuse drugs.
However, nearly 75 percent of users sent through that system repeated
the cycle of use, arrest and imprisonment.

But a change is underway. A new drug court in its second year in Davis
County's 2nd District Court is showing astonishing results. Officials
now estimate that nationwide more than 90 percent of drug court
participants have not repeated the cycle of use.

Every Tuesday at 9 a.m. Judge Jon M. Memmott presides over drug court.
One by one, former drug users stand before him and give an accounting
of their week. Sometimes Memmott is smiling; sometimes he is not. At
times, he's chastising, or even grimly handing down an order for
incarceration.

The court is an aggressive program designed to help addicts
rehabilitate themselves. It's no picnic.

Participants must get a job, end relationships with other users, spend
evenings in intensive counseling sessions and submit to drug tests.

Those associated with the new court say Memmott is behind its success.
Yet, even he was skeptical at first.

"When I first heard of it, I understood it conceptually. But when I
sat in on a drug court and saw what was happening, I was sold."

At first Memmott ran the program concurrently with the regular method
of rehabilitation. As an ultimate test to the system, he kicked it off
with a challenging group.

His faith in the people and the new system paid off.

"It shows how resilient people are. There's still a lot of good in a
lot of people. Basically, most people want to do good," he said.

The process begins when an individual is selected for drug court. Drug
dealers and those with violent records are not considered. Neither are
first-time offenders.

"First-time offenders are often just experimenting. We don't want to
use our resources on them. We're targeting those with a prior drug use
conviction," Memmott said.

The process begins with a guilty plea. The required guilty pleas are
held "in abeyance," meaning if the user successfully completes the
one-year course, the plea is dismissed.

The treatment plan consists of four phases. In the first phase,
orientation, legal counseling and drug testing through urinalysis
occurs. The user has two weeks to decide if participation will continue.

In the second phase, the participant is channeled into one of several
levels of programs available, including intensive outpatient care, day
treatment, or residential care. Drug testing is done randomly, three
to four times a week. Attendance of treatment classes, three-hour
counseling sessions and employment are required. Plus the participant
must attend Tuesday morning drug court sessions with Memmott.

Phase three involves a continuation of classes, drug testing twice a
week, community service, continued employment, a bi-weekly court date
and other selected activities learning a skill, obtaining a GED, or
some other form of education.

A participant who makes it to phase four continues the meetings and
classes, goes to drug court monthly, develops an after-care program
and submits to continued drug tests.

A graduate must have six months of negative drug tests and complete
all other requirements.

While Memmott presides over drug court, an assembly of other
professionals contribute their services to the court's success. This
team designs a personal program for each participant.

Jim Kelly, drug court coordinator and former employee of Davis County
Mental Health for 25 years, said: "This is the most effective thing
I've seen in 31 years. It helps people get their feet on the ground.
It works."

Kelly coordinates participants with counselors and
programs.

"The very nature of addiction is denial. Addicts always look for
someone else to blame," Kelly said. "A person can't treat a problem
until he admits he has it.

"We can get the drugs out of their body in a week. But it takes longer
to change what's between their ears. They have to reach a point where
they're more comfortable without the drugs than they are with them,"
Kelly said.

Both Kelly and Memmott stress to participants that honesty is the most
important thing in drug court. And they agree that when a participant
has a relapse, it's still salvageable, if the participant is honest.

Sometimes a relapse results in jail time. Sometimes it's additional
assignments.

"We have a number of sanctions, increasing in severity depending on
how far along they are," Kelly said. "We're not trying to throw them
out. We're going to keep on trying with them."

"In drug court we know them each as an individual," Memmott said.
"There is a close relationship. I want them to succeed. When they
fail, it's a little personal. If they fail, you feel like you've failed.

In the previous system, Memmott said, the people he saw in his court
were a name on a folder.

"This method is unique, because the traditional method requires judges
to keep impartial, separated from them. In this setting, I have the
information I need to help them. I know their families, their
problems, how they're doing in school."

Memmott meets with the court's team an hour before Drug Court.
Representatives from numerous law enforcement entities, counselors,
and attorneys sit together to counsel on each participant's progress.
Suggestions for handling problems flow freely among the group. When
Memmott walks into court, he's prepared.

"I thank God for everything Memmott's done for me," said Corey Nalder,
Clearfield. "This is basically my last chance. The judge is supportive
of me, and that's made me want to make him proud."

Nalder's story reads like so many others. With two prior arrests, the
31-year-old man was a prime candidate for drug court. He was addicted,
and had no way out of the cycle. Most of all, he wanted help.

Nalder's time before the judge was short as he reported his week's
activities. He and the judge mulled over a new living arrangement. The
session ended as they all do.

"How many days clean, Corey?" Memmott asked.

"One hundred and twelve days," Nalder said.

The audience applauded.

Memmott sees more than 70 people each week, and anticipates that with
a recent $2 million allocation from the Legislature, that number will
double.

Perhaps the biggest change in the drug court system is the man in the
robes.

Memmott said his role is no longer designed to punish. He has become
an advocate and to many a friend.

"I have a cell phone I carry with me. We don't wait two weeks to make
a decision. Sometimes I get a call at 2 a.m., because that's when the
person is in need," he said.

"It's a story that needs to be told. As a judge, it's the most
rewarding thing I've done, because I'm making a bigger difference here
than anything else I've done. These people's lives are really being
changed."