FORMER ADDICT SAYS COURT SAVED HIM

Note: The Harrison Drug Court will hold its first graduation next
Tuesday. This is the first of two stories on the court, with the
second featuring the court's first graduate and her story of
overcoming addiction.

If it weren't for the drug court program run through Harrison Circuit
Court, 36-year-old John Bales doesn't know where he would be today.

Bales made headlines in October 2004 after being arrested on
methamphetamine-related charges. In late September that year, he was
driving toward town on Ky. 36 West not knowing there was an off-duty
Harrison County Sheriff's deputy behind him.

"If I wasn't jacked up on meth at the time I got busted, I probably
wouldn't have got in my truck and took off down the road," Bales
said. "But I did and I shouldn't have been behind the wheel." Dep.
Terry Barnes noticed Bales weaving and called Cynthiana dispatch to
inform the Cynthiana Police Department. A traffic stop and subsequent
search of Bales' truck, as well as a bag he tossed out the window
while Barnes was following him, turned up methamphetamine, marijuana,
drug paraphernalia and filters used to make meth.

"I was very fortunate that I didn't kill somebody," Bales said. Just
under a year after his arrest, in August 2005, he started working
through the drug court program.

Started in 2004, the drug court program is a specialty court run
through the 18th Judicial Circuit under the office of Circuit Judge
Robert McGinnis.

McGinnis started drug court as a pilot program running on a meager
$10,000 per year. It is now a fully staffed, federally funded program.

Program coordinator Rebecca Cornell has all the hands-on experience
with the participants.

The court takes cases where the offense can be traced back to drug use.

"It doesn't necessarily have to be a drug charge," Cornell said. "But
when were doing eligibility assessments, you can basically tell if
the person committed a certain offense due to getting money for their
drug habit, so it's directly related."

She noted that while the 18th circuit doesn't have a DUI drug court
like other counties, it does take alcohol-related cases.

The way drug court works is simple on the surface. A defendant will
plead guilty and sentencing is postponed for an eligibility
assessment. Certain criteria must be met - specifically the person
can't have any violent offenses or trafficking charges - and a report
is issued to McGinnis.

"Then we'll do the sentencing," Cornell said.

A sentence is issued and put on hold pending completion of the drug
court program. If a defendant fails to complete the program, the full
sentence is imposed regardless of how far along the person was.

"At any time they have the option to say, 'Forget this. This is too
hard, I want to go to jail,'" Cornell said, noting the average time
to complete the program should be about two years, "None of them have
done that so far."

Before coming into the drug court program, Bales said he was a loner.

"I was very paranoid of people, and I felt negative toward everyone," he said.

He didn't exactly approach drug court with open arms, either.

"I thought it was one of those phoney-baloney programs," he said.

Experience changed his mind.

"It hasn't been about that," he said. "It's been about people who
actually have a positive energy toward caring for what's going on in
your life," he said. "And I really think it's been great. It's really
flipped me for a somersault because I didn't expect this."

Bales cautioned those who would think drug court is a get-out-of-jail pass.

"The program's not going to work for you if you're playing that
game," he said. "If you want a life of sobriety, if you want to get
off of drugs and you want to be surrounded by positive people in your
life, this is the program for you.

"It works - if you'll let it."

The program is set up in three phases.

Phase one is the most involved and likely the hardest. Participants
attend an intensive outpatient program (IOP) two times a week, they
meet with Cornell once a week and - crucial to the program - are
subject to random drug tests three times a week.

"It's random and observed - meaning there's no privacy at all," she said.

Phase two is more education-oriented. While visits to Cornell remain
at once per week, IOP drops to one visit per week and drug tests
happen only twice.

Cornell describes phase three as the self-motivational phase.
Participants are tested once per week - still at random, continue IOP
once per week and must do community projects.

She said that's a way for them to give something back to the community.

"The whole time they're doing this, they're all working toward paying
the community back through restitution and court costs," Cornell
added. "That's one of the big pushes for drug court - to keep them
out of jail so they can take care of paying back their court costs,
fines and restitution so society doesn't have to pay for their upkeep."

All the drug court participants must also appear in court once a
month for McGinnis to review their cases.

Bales is in the middle phase of the program and hopes to move on to
phase three next week.

"As far as the program itself, I'm probably looking at another year
at being completely done," he said.

He's been drug-free for 18 months. For that, he credits the program
and especially McGinnis.

"I've got a lot of respect for Judge McGinnis," he said. "I'm very
grateful he saw in me that I deserved another chance. I've got a lot
of respect for Judge McGinnis."

For all of Bales' appreciation of the program, Cornell describes him
as the perfect participant.

"John is one of the most positive people in the program," she said.
"His goal in life is to get on a circuit, talking to kids."

In the meantime, he shares his story whenever and wherever he can.

At the time he was arrested, Bales said he was learning to cook
methamphetamine but wasn't making it on his own.

"I wasn't selling it," he said. "It was to support my own habit."

Bales said he started using meth in the late 1980s or early 1990s.
Initially he started using so he could work multiple jobs without
losing his energy.

"Caffeine pills weren't doing it," he said. "I got introduced to this
stuff and ended up liking it more than I should have."

His personal life suffered as a result of the addiction.

"It was costing the relationships with my family; it was costing me
the relationship with my wife," he said.

He was, as he put it, in a self-destructive mode.

"I could care less if the bills got paid or if I lived the next day,"
he said, noting he also suffered from depression which caused him to
use more. "I just wanted to live life fast and dangerously. I had
forgotten what real living was about."

The methamphetamine also cost Bales a high physical price. When he
was younger, he suffered from vision problems and was told he would
likely go blind by his 50s or 60s.

"Being around all those chemicals and everything, the doctors that I
had spoken with feel like it sped up the process," he said. "I guess
you could say the drug has cost me my vision at an early stage."

He said he sees some light, but has noticed a big decrease in that
over the last year.

"There are days I don't see anything, just lightning streaks," he said.

His bust led not only to his becoming involved in drug court, but to
a reconciliation with his wife, Rosa.

"I swore to her that I'm done with all the little childish stuff," he
said. "No more drugs and I'm definitely not going to be running around."

In the long term, Bales wants to use his experience to help others,
especially young people.

"I'm very fearful for the youth of this community," he said.