QUIT DRUGS OR GO TO JAIL ­ IT'S YOUR CHOICE

Drug Court Offers Addicts Rigorous, Perhaps Lifechanging, Alternative

By Ian Ith, Staff Writer

MOUNT VERNON Eight months ago, Mount Vernon police caught 40yearold
Nina Feeney with several heroinencrusted needles.

Five months ago, Burlington police picked up 35yearold Sandra Lee Norris
for breaking into her estranged husband's house to steal his checkbook for
cocaine money.

Five months ago, an undercover cop busted Janet Kallerman, a 28yearold
Hamilton woman, for selling a gram of methamphetamine.

Two months ago, these women had two choices: They could plead guilty and
face jail or prison. Or they could trust their fate to a jury and try to
beat the charges.

Now the women have a third option and perhaps a new hope: drug court.

Judges, prosecutors, defense lawyers and drugtreatment counselors are
lining up to rave about the new program as an alternative to fighting drugs
with handcuffs and shackles.

It's a more realistic, proven way to break the addictions that land people
in trouble with the law and break them out of the turnstile of justice,
they say.

"We could fill the courts all day long with drug offenders, and they're
just going to go out and do it all over again," said Superior Court Judge
Michael Rickert, who presides over the program. "Some of them deserve the
chance to get out and get back on their feet. And this is the best model
I've seen for doing that."

Feeney, Norris and Kallerman are among seven people five women and two
men who were first to volunteer for the new program. And several more
are already in line to try.

The program is simple, Rickert said, but far from easy.

In a nutshell, a judge agrees to dismiss the current criminal charges if a
drug addict completes a rigorous program of drug rehabilitation and
probation.

But rigorous is the key word. And if they fail, defendants give up their
rights to refute the original charges, spelling an allbutcertain trip to
jail.

"This is not a walk in the park," Rickert sternly told Feeney in court last
month as she entered the program.

"If you complete it successfully, you'll get your life back. You'll be free
of whatever demons are chasing you. If you don't complete it, you'll be
prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law."

Only nonviolent criminals charged with minor drug crimes or druginduced
property crimes are eligible to participate.

Participants also must convince a counselor they are truly addicts.

"It's not for everybody," Rickert said. "It's for a select few who need to
get their lives back together because they've seriously crashed."

The addicts must stay completely clean and pass random drug tests to
prove it. They must keep up with intensive couneling and biweekly court
dates. Some addicts may be ordered to hold down a job or stay in school.

And if they don't, they answer directly to Rickert with no excuses
accepted. Rickert said he expects to send people straight to jail for minor
infractions.

Rewards too

Conversely, he said, he also plans to reward progress with movie coupons,
dinner certificates, or anything else he can gather from community donors
to help the program.

"You get the positive and negative feedback," the judge said. "And it's
instantaneous."

The program officially started several weeks ago after Rickert enlisted
several lawyers and a drug counselor to spend months preparing and weeks
attending national training conferences.

Startup costs were funded by a $25,000 federal grant.

Rickert, a former prosecutor, said he had to change his entire attitude
toward minor drug crimes.

"The general theory used to be, 'Let's find all the druggies and put them
in prison," Rickert said. "As a judge, I've watched that for several years.
We've put way too many of them in prison. It's good for some of them, but
it isn't the answer."

Working elsewhere

The Skagit County program is based on other drug courts all over the
country. In Washington, King and Spokane counties have had drug courts for
years. Pierce County started its drug court in 1994.

"When you talk to a drug court judge, they all say they think their drug
court program is pretty good," said Pierce County Superior Court Judge Gary
Steiner. "But we've had a lot of successes without any horror stories."

Those successes include a 57percent graduation rate outstanding compared
to the rates at voluntary drugtreatment programs, Steiner said.

The personal stories are even more potent, he said.

"These people went out and got jobs, got their kids out of foster homes,
didn't commit new crimes," Steiner said. "We saw united families, paying
taxes, the whole schmear."

And with those kinds of reviews, you won't find any doubters among Skagit
County court officials.

"I feel so goddang good a warmth goes through me," said private defense
lawyer John Murphy of Mount Vernon, who wrote the application for the
startup grant and was instrumental in the program's formation.

"If you can help four out of 10 or five out of 10 of these people, you're
accomplishing what sending them to prison doesn't," he said.

Gary Gaer, a deputy public defender, agreed.

"I think this is the only way we ever should have been addressing the
problem," he said. "It's not a cureall, but it's the wisest way to go."

Society helped

Murphy and Gaer won't get any arguments from their traditional opponents in
the courtroom.

"I think society will be better off in the long run if we can get them off
drugs and out of the criminal cycle," said Chief Deputy Prosecutor David
Wall. "There are people more deserving to be in our jails."

Tim Tackels, a counselor at Skagit Recovery Center, evaluates applicants to
determine their level of addiction.

"I've seen too many lives changed by treatment to say this won't work," he
said.

Even local cops were enthusiastic.

"I don't feel that putting everyone in jail is the best solution," said
Jerry Dodd, commander of the county's drug task force. "Our mission is drug
enforcement, but philosophically, I believe treatment and prevention is the
key."

But the first graduation ceremony perhaps as early as a year from now
may very well offer the best measure of success, Rickert said.

"To a lot of these people, it's absolutely the largest event in their
lives," the judge said. "They're done. They've kicked it. It's quite
rewarding."