DRUG COURT SHAPING UP AS AN OBSTACLE TO ADDICTION

First Two Participants Remain Drug-Free But Still Suffer Pains Of Recovery

Krystle O'Barske crossed a huge barrier this month, perhaps the
largest of her 21 years.

After spending the last decade struggling with heroin addiction,
O'Barske, who first tried heroin at age 11, has gone without the drug
for more than seven months, which is a personal best, according to
Tammy O'Neill, director of the nonprofit Porter County PACT. Fellow
heroin addict Andrea Hric has been clean for more than 10 months
after overdosing last fall and nearly dying at age 19.

Their success, however, is not just their own. Their every step has
been closely monitored over the past three months as the first two
participants in the new Porter County Alcohol and Other Drug Court.

Both women, who live at a residential treatment facility, have been
required to check in each Monday afternoon before Porter Superior
Judge Julia Jent.

The procedure each Monday has been pretty much the same, with Jent
and a team of prosecutors, counselors, case managers and other
officials meeting behind closed doors to discuss the women's
progress. The group then returns to open court, and Jent talks with both women.

While there has been plenty of laughter and words of encouragement,
the struggles of staying clean are always near the surface.

Both women have struggled to stay away from former friends and
partners, who are off limits as convicted felons or current drug users.

"They're everywhere," O'Barske said during one hearing after saying
how a group of friends had invited her to get high.

When confronted one week about socializing with a convicted felon she
met in a recovery meeting, Hric lost control and began yelling.

"I have no life," she said. "Nobody is good enough, and it's pissing me off."

While such outbursts typically land offenders in jail, Jent said she
was encouraged by the show of real emotion.

"You are a heroin addict," Jent said. "You need to soak that in."

The judge, however, was less tolerant the following week when she
learned Hric had attempted to skirt the rule by seeing the same man
at a 12-step meeting, and O'Barske had visited an offender at the
county jail. She threw both women in jail for a few days.

"Do you have a clue at all why you are here?" Jent asked. "This is not a game."

The judge and other members of the drug court team had a jolt of
their own when in May, they received word about a young woman named
Crystal, who died of a heroin overdose. They went through a tense few
hours until discovering the deceased was someone other than their own
Krystle O'Barske.

As O'Barske and Hric prepare to move on to the second phase of the
program, with its greater liberties, Ernest Barrientez Jr. of Portage
made an initial appearance at the drug court last week.

The 23-year-old, who has two young children, said he has been using
heroin for the past two years.

Jent began at square one with Barrientez, reading him the many ground
rules and repeatedly reminding him to use "yes" rather than "yeah"
when addressing the court. While firm with the young man, she
reminded him, and the others, just how much is at stake.

"Our ultimate goal," she said, "is to get you out of here clean."