HOUSE FINDS MONEY TO EXPAND STATE DRUG COURT PROGRAM

The Oklahoma House agreed Monday to spend $8 million more on Oklahoma's
drug court program, an expansion that authorities said will divert more
than 3,000 drug and alcohol defendants from prison and save more than $38
million in incarceration costs in one year.

Lawmakers, substance abuse counselors and drug court graduates praised the
spending plan, which was approved when the House passed a $171 million
budget for the Oklahoma Department of Mental Health and Substance Abuse
Services for the fiscal year that begins July 1.

"We know that drug courts save lives," said Rep. Thad Balkman, R-Norman,
the measure's House author. Expanding the program will give thousands more
people with substance abuse problems a chance to turn their lives around
without burdening the state's prison system, Balkman said.

Randy McQuay, a drug court graduate from Ada, said he was facing a possible
40-year prison sentence for manufacturing methamphetamine before he was
accepted into Pontotoc County's rigorous program, where he was required to
seek regular counseling, be tested for drug use and keep a job.

"I used drugs for so many years that's all I knew," said McQuay, 52, who
now works as a drug court administrator. Under drug court supervision,
McQuay said he kicked his meth habit and obtained a master's degree.

"It's not an easy program to do," he said. "Nothing I've ever done in my
life has affected me like drug court has."

The bill, previously passed by the Senate, now goes to Gov. Brad Henry, who
is expected to sign it.

The expansion will almost triple the drug court program's $4.4 million
annual budget to more than $12 million. It will permit 22 existing drug
courts to expand and create 10 new courts. The state currently operates 44
drug courts in 39 counties.

"We're talking about over 3,000 individuals who will be diverted," said
Terry Cline, secretary of health and commissioner of the Department of
Mental Health and Substance Abuse Services.

"This will make a huge dent in the prison population in the long haul,"
said Sonny Scott, a counselor with the Norman Alcohol Information Center.

Drug courts have been touted by lawmakers and state prison officials as a
way to reduce the state's rising prison population.

"Everybody that succeeds in Oklahoma County drug court is someone who is
slated to go to prison," Oklahoma County District Attorney Wes Lane said.

It costs $42 a day, or more than $15,000 a year, to lock an inmate up in a
state prison, officials said. Drug court programs cost about $5,000 a year
per defendant.

"I don't expect to see a radical change overnight," Balkman said. But
incarceration costs are expected to fall by more than $38 million in the
first year and more than $79 million over four years, he said.

Prison costs have increased 193 percent, or $253 million, in the past 16
years. The state prison budget totals $383 million for the fiscal year that
ends June 30.

The state's inmate count has grown more than 100 percent over the past 16
years and stood at 23,802 on Monday. Since 1995, prison receptions for drug
crimes has increased from 28 percent to 40 percent.