DRUG COURT OFFERS ALTERNATIVE FOR TEENS

The Goal Is To Replace Jail With Counseling

A 16-year-old Concord teenager on probation for marijuana use was
back in court last week. He had missed court for three weeks in a
row, skipped two classes and, after four months of sobriety, had
smoked pot again.

But instead of sending the teen to the Youth Detention Center in
Manchester, the judge gave him a date book to help him remember
appointments. The teen's probation officer vowed to help him find
reliable transportation to court, told him to start calling her every
night and set up an appointment with a therapist. The probation
officer also asked if the teen could be rewarded with a sobriety
coin, often given out in Alcoholics Anonymous groups, for not smoking
that week.

"This kid has been sending us the message," said the probation
officer, Melissa Young, in an earlier meeting. He needs more help to
stop using drugs, she said.

During the last five years, several New Hampshire district courts
have established probation and counseling programs they hope will
help get to the root of many teenage arrests - drug and alcohol addiction.

Drug court is an intensive, year-long probation and drug counseling
program that was established in New Hampshire in 2002. Six courts,
including Concord District Court, use the program. Nine other states
have similar programs.

Drug court was started with a $1.2 million grant from the Robert Wood
Johnson Foundation, a national nonprofit organization that supports
programs aimed at improving health. Next year, the grant will expire,
and the program will become part of the court budget. Officials
didn't know the program's total cost, but they say a year of
counseling for a teen is typically much cheaper than a year of
incarceration, which averages $39,600 per teen per year nationwide.

Each year, between 30 and 50 teenagers in the state attend drug
court. Each week, they are tested for drugs, counseled and evaluated
in court. Some call their probation officer every day and have to
adhere to strict curfews. Their families also attend weekly court
sessions and education programs and call the probation officer with
problems and weekly progress reports.

Teenagers are counseled through drug court, but they aren't coddled,
said Young, the probation and parole officer for the drug court
program in Concord. Rewards and punishment are doled out with similar
ease, she said. Teens can earn extra points for wearing a tie to
court, but they can also be sent to a detention center for breaking curfew.

"I have to try to balance what his therapy needs are and the fact
that I do answer to the court," Young said.

Not every teen arrested on drug and alcohol charges gets sent to drug
court. Those recommended for the program typically have violated
probation by using drugs or have been arrested several times for drug
or alcohol use. They often admit to using drugs or alcohol when they
are alone or say they've tried to quit but failed, said Ray Goodman,
co-director of the New Hampshire drug court project.

The program is designed to help teens at the earlier stages of a drug
problem. Those in the later stages of addiction are usually sent to
rehabilitation, Goodman said.

Every Monday morning at Concord District Court, Young meets with a
counselor who sees the teens, a representative from Concord High
School, a case coordinator and a public defender who represents many
of the teens. They discuss each teenager's progress and difficulties
and set up the week's goals.

Judge Michael Sullivan sees the teenagers every Monday afternoon,
when the group court session is held. He said being able to meet with
them weekly and monitor their progress is a gift.

"This is the best part of my week," Sullivan said. "It's a throwback
to an earlier time 25 years ago, when Concord was a place where you
knew all the kids, you knew their families."

The drug court program is still developing, and only 52 percent of
the New Hampshire teens in the program successfully complete it,
Goodman said. In Concord, only 45 percent of teens finish the
program, and only 38 percent do in Laconia and Nashua, Goodman said.
Teens who don't graduate from drug court return to the standard
juvenile court system.

Young said she believes many who don't complete the program still
achieve more success in drug court than they would in traditional
juvenile court. They usually have fewer relapses and fewer arrests.

"A lot of people who don't understand addiction define success as a
kid never using again," Young said. "I think that we probably made
some progress with these kids, but at the same time, if they continue
to commit crimes, we have no choice"but to send them to a youth
detention center, she said.

And since parents are required to participate in drug court, many end
up addressing their own drug or alcohol addictions, Young said. One
woman whose son didn't complete drug court managed to kick her own
heroin addiction, Young said. Her son was sent to the Youth Detention
Center, but she is still sober and will likely be better-equipped to
help her son.

"I consider that a huge success," Young said.

Of the dozen or so teens who have graduated from Concord drug court,
Young said she knows of only one who was arrested again.

Transportation has also been a challenge to the program, as many
teens and their parents don't have a license or a reliable car to get
them to court or counseling. "The less treatment, court and
supervision they have, the less successful they are, she said.

Drug court officials are working with the Concord Coalition for
Substance Abuse to see if local cab companies would help drive teens
to their appointments, Young said. They're also constantly reviewing
the program and its results.

Last week at drug court, Young was considering whether one
16-year-old might be on his way out of the program. He had been
caught with marijuana at school and had tested positive for drugs
several times. He entered the program in lieu of a 1 1/2-year
sentence at the Youth Detention Center.

In court later that afternoon, Young told Sullivan she wasn't sure
whether the program was working for the teen. Young and Sullivan
looked disappointed, but neither was ready to give up on him.

"I'm a little torn at this point, your honor," Young said.

"It's a tough one," Sullivan said.

Sullivan ordered the teen to be held at the Youth Detention Services
Unit in Concord until the charges against him could be heard later in
the week. He told the teen to think about what he was doing in the
program and figure out what he needed to do to succeed.

The 16-year-old who received a date book from Sullivan was also in
court last Monday. Young had not held him in violation of his
probation, but she had told him to tell his older brother and a close
friend about the relapse.

"My brother pretty much told me I was an idiot." the teen told
Sullivan in court last Monday. "My friend . . . didn't say anything
and didn't talk to me for a couple of days."

"Are you disappointed in picking up and using again?" Sullivan asked.

"Yes," he answered.

Earlier, in the morning meeting, Young said the teen was devastated
when she told him his urine had tested positive for THC, a drug in marijuana.

"He disintegrated and cried for 30 minutes," Young told the others.
"He said he hadn't slept all night."

Another 16-year-old Concord teen graduated from the drug court
program last Monday. For his final reward, the court staff brought
him a cake that he and the other teens and families ate in the courtroom.

Like many graduates of the program, this teen said he would like to
become a mentor for other teens in drug court, including the teenager
currently facing expulsion from the program.

"So what do you think?" Sullivan asked the graduating teen.

"I'm psyched," he said.

"Are you a better person than you were?" Sullivan asked.

"Definitely," he said. "I feel that going through this program gave
me a better thought process on how to deal with certain situations."

Sullivan told the teen it had been a privilege to work with him and
said he envisioned the teen becoming a community leader.

"You get to cut the cake," Sullivan told him.

"Thank you for everything, Judge," he said.