PRISON ALTERNATIVE IN PERIL

Drug Treatment Program Lauded But State Money Uncertain

(AP) It was a graduation ceremony like many others. Ellie Andrews got a
diploma. Her 3 1/2-year-old daughter Abbey applauded, and later licked the
icing off a celebration cupcake.

But the commencement speaker was a judge who congratulated Andrews for
completing a nearly yearlong treatment program in Mecklenburg County's drug
court, where coursework included staying clean for 340 days and never
missing a court or counseling session.

"It was hard and time-consuming, but it was worth it," said Andrews, 30.
"It's much better than the alternative."

For Andrews, the alternative was a prison term of at least two years.
Instead, she ended up in the drug court, an option offered to some
nonviolent offenders that studies have found to be much more effective than
traditional drug treatment programs.

But despite the program's successes, and the support of both local and
statewide court officials, the drug courts in Mecklenburg County and more
than a dozen other judicial districts around the state are in peril as
legislators in Raleigh negotiate a budget for the next two years.

The Senate's version of the budget cuts nearly all of their budget of just
over $1 million. Sen. Scott Thomas, D-Craven, one of the budget writers,
believes the courts can be run using existing resources and untapped
federal drug treatment funds.

But without state money, Mecklenburg County officials say they'll have to
shut down their drug courts by Oct. 1. And even if the money is restored,
there remains a deep conflict between the locally run courts and the state
Administrative Office of the Courts, which is trying to standardize drug
court operations across the state.

"I don't understand it," said Phil Howerton, the Mecklenburg District Court
judge who congratulated Andrews at her graduation last week. "Come on,
guys, this works. Why kill it?"

On that point -- that drug courts work -- there appears to be little
debate. Mecklenburg County's drug court, the state's first when it opened
in 1996, today handles more offenders than any other in North Carolina and
has been a national model.

A state study released in March reported 2004 graduation rates of 35
percent and a retention rate of more than 65 percent for all of North
Carolina's drug courts. While that might appear low, national studies have
found that 80 percent to 90 percent of drug abusers don't even make it to
the one-year mark of traditional treatment programs.

One recent national study, which included drug court graduates from North
Carolina, found that only 16.4 percent of 17,000 drug court graduates had
been re-arrested and charged with a felony.

Estimates of money saved by drug courts, which can substitute for
incarceration and are aimed at preventing future arrests, trials and prison
time, vary widely, but supporters agree the long-term payoff is substantial.

"It works," said Rep. Becky Carney, D-Mecklenburg, who successfully
insisted the House budget include the money for the drug courts left out of
the Senate version. "Why would we try to stop something that has got a
proven track record?"

The question of state funding is now before a committee working on a
compromise budget .

Thomas, the senator who handles courts budgeting, said the Senate's cuts
don't mean the end of drug courts. "It was our intent for the drug
treatment courts to continue to exist with existing personnel," he said.

Howerton and others in Mecklenburg County, where courts already are
overburdened, dismiss that logic.

"It's incredible to me that the legislature would pass up the opportunity
.. to treat defendants and avoid the recidivism that we've had for so many
years ... for the relatively minor amount of money the drug courts need to
operate," Howerton said.