IT'S INSANE TO KILL DRUG COURTS

N.C. Legislature's Failure To Fund Drug Courts Will Be Costly To Public

We can't believe it. This week, after 10 years of operation, we begin
dramatically cutting drug treatment courts in Mecklenburg County and
throughout the state. Drug courts greatly improve public safety, save
money and lives. Yet there's no clear plan for funding, maintaining
and implementing these courts locally or statewide.

Why? We in Charlotte are really not sure. Not much clarity is coming
from Raleigh.

We did hear that nearly $29 million was added to the state budget
automatically because of the way this state funds prisons. We heard
that certain court fees and fines will increase the state budget by
about $20 million, but the court system will see little if any of that
money. All it would take to fully fund the nearly 30 drug courts
created statewide in the last 10 years is $3.5 million.

We also heard that the N.C. Sentencing Commission has given
recommendations in recent years that could have avoided a significant
amount of prison budget expansion, but previous legislative sessions
chose not to follow their advice. Currently, the correctional system
ranks about number three in our state's budget, behind education and
health care.

Don't think that can't change for the worse. Michigan Judge Harvey
Hoffman was Judge of the Year in Michigan and works extensively in the
drug treatment court field. His remarks at a drug treatment court
event in Charlotte explain why we need better policy concerning
corrections and drug treatment courts:

"Ask any judge, or prosecutor or probation officer, and they will tell
you that drugs and alcohol are the single most significant factors
driving the criminal dockets of the nation. And it's not limited to
the possession of controlled substance or the drunk driving cases.
Drugs and alcohol impact a wide variety of cases. For example:

- - 70 percent of all crimes against property in America are committed
by persons with significant drug or alcohol problems.

- - Over 80 percent of all reported domestic violence cases have one or
both of the family member involved being under the influence during
the incident.

"...There was a time when be believed that by incarcerating users that
we could stop recidivism of the drug and alcohol related cases in our
courts. Times change.

"The jails and prisons are full to bursting. In my home state of
Michigan the annual budget for the Department of Corrections is the
largest single item of our state budget: larger than universities
budget -- larger even then K-12 education. We can't lock up all of our
addicts and alcoholics. We don't have the room and we don't have the
money. And when they come out, unchanged or changed for the worse, can
we really be surprised when the majority of them swiftly re-offend?

"There was a time when we believed that by simply ordering our drug
and alcohol offenders into treatment, we had found the way. That
surely if we provided them with knowledge and insight, they would see
it was only rational for them to stop using or drinking. Times change...

"If there is one great truth that has developed here in Mecklenburg
County and around the nation over the last 10 years, it is that
treatment, plus the accountability born in the court's ability to
provide meaningful sanctions and rewards, enables us for the first
time to reach addicts and alcoholics where they live. We are attacking
their underlying addictions. We are changing their way of thinking,
and thereby the way they lead their lives."

It is insane to ignore the truth presented by Judge Hoffman and
experienced daily by those of us in the system. May those who have the
power and authority take heed. For The Record offers commentaries from
various sources. The views are the writer's, and not necessarily those
of the Observer editorial board.