TIME IS NOW FOR DRUG COURT

We're pleased to see some forward movement on establishing a drug
court in McHenry County, but it's long past time for this to be just
a discussion.

A state deadline required the county to have a drug court in place by
last month, but the county was granted a two-year extension. Let's
hope county officials can meet this deadline. There are already
nearly 20 drug courts up and running across Illinois.

One can engage in a philosophical debate about whether criminal
defendants whose primary problem is drug use should be treated
differently in the criminal justice system if he chooses, but the
bottom line is that drug courts work.

According to research done by the Drug Court Clearinghouse and
Technical Assistance Project, drug courts nearly cut recidivism rates
in half when compared with traditional criminal courts. It makes
sense that drug court participants, who have been charged with
non-violent offenses, have a higher rate of success. They see judges
more often, are more closely supervised, and their compliance is
intertwined with their addiction treatment.

So let's look at cost, for the lock-'em-up crowd. It costs about
$24,000 to incarcerate someone for a year. That's more than some
people take home in salary. Compare that with the $2,000 to $3,000 it
will cost to send a person through drug court.

Maybe addicts who sat in jail or prison for a year got better at
crossword puzzles. It's not likely they're better equipped for a
world where drugs still are available. Without some tools to succeed,
we can count on paying another $24,000 in due time.

It's time we start using all government dollars more effectively, and
drug court is a step in that direction.