SENATE WOULD KILL DRUG COURTS

N.C. court is a national model. Its death would be a `senseless tragedy'

Nine years ago Dr. Jeff Runge, a nationally known emergency room physician
and teacher at Carolinas Medical Center, became appalled at the injuries and
death caused by drunken driving.

A year before that, Mecklenburg County started a drug treatment court, the
first in the state. We began immediately to enroll alcoholic DWI defendants.
We were the first in the United States to do so.

Dr. Runge heard and paid us a visit.

Five years ago,he was appointed director of the National Highway Traffic
Safety Administration. One of his first acts was to send his staff to
Charlotte. Not long after, Dr. Runge made the creation of courts like ours
one of the top three priorities of his administration. NHTSA is now funding
DWI treatment court training sessions all over the United States.

Three years ago, out of all the courts in the country, our court was given
an award by the President's Commission Against Drunk Driving . We were
recommended for that award by Mothers Against Drunk Driving.

Recently, we hosted a three-day training session for the National Drug Court
Institute for people from all over the country to learn how to begin these
courts. For the second year in a row, we were one of three sites in the
country chosen for this training.

On May 8, the Observer carried an important article on the alarmingly high
DWI arrest rates of Hispanic defendants in this state. A little known aspect
of our DWI treatment courts, of which there are now two, is that in one, 75
percent of defendants are alcoholic Hispanics convicted of at least two
DWIs. Our success rate among these defendants has been spectacular,
surprising even the most optimistic of our staff. We have graduated -- after
a year of sobriety, Spanish speaking treatment and case management -- dozens
of these young men.

Now the N.C. Senate has proposed to close these courts, along with all other
drug treatment courts in the state. After approving a bill that will
increase fees from the court system by $15 million per year, the Senate
proposed to close these courts to "save" $1 million, which is the amount
requested by the Administrative Office of the Court to operate these courts
for the next year.

Unless the House reverses this action, we will have no choice but to close
these courts on June 30. Ten years of hard work by dedicated staff and
thehard work of defendants enrolled in our treatment programs will go down
the drain.

What an absolute, senseless tragedy.