MTV FILMS HAMPTON DRUG COURT

A Local Woman Is Shadowed By A Camera Crew As She Kicks Her Addiction In
"Choose Or Lose: 20 Million Loud."

HAMPTON -- Patricia Moody became a TV star Tuesday.

It wasn't because she won $1 million on a reality show, or because she hit
700 home runs. No, the 24-year-old Hampton resident became a star because
she kicked a drug habit.

And MTV is going to broadcast her story for the country to see.

The music television station that features shows such as "Pimp My Ride" and
"Punk'd" is spending two days in Hampton Roads doing a story on Hampton's
Drug Court as part of a segment on the country's national drug policies.

The segment will appear on MTV's "Choose or Lose" news program at 11 p.m.
on Oct. 18 to highlight the policies of presidential candidates President
George W. Bush and Sen. John Kerry and to demonstrate drug prevention
programs that are working. "Choose or Lose: 20 Million Loud" is a campaign
that aims to get 20 million voters aged 18 to 30 to the polls in November.

Moody, who's been in Hampton's Drug Court program since April, is allowing
an MTV crew to shadow her to show how one drug court is working. The crew
filmed the court in action Tuesday and will spend today with Moody to see
how the program plays out in her life.

"It's a big deal for Hampton, even a big deal for Virginia," said Patty
Gilbertson, who oversees the Hampton and Newport News drug courts for the
Hampton-Newport News Community Services Board, an agency that helps
substance abusers and the mentally ill. "Out of all the courts in Virginia,
they chose ours."

Drug courts are a nontraditional solution to dealing with nonviolent
offenders who have abused drugs. Instead of going to jail, participants
must go through an intensive program full of daily treatment programs,
12-step meetings, random drug screens and weekly court hearings. They also
have to find jobs. It takes about 18 months to make it through the program.

There are more than 1,900 drug courts in the United States, 27 of them in
Virginia. Hampton's started a year ago on the heels of a successful, now
6-year-old Newport News program that has so far graduated 61 people with a
zero felony recidivism rate.

There are 27 people in Hampton's Drug Court program. That includes Moody,
who Tuesday had been drug-free for 169 days after being addicted for four
years.

Unsure at first to allow MTV to film her, Moody agreed in the hopes that
her story will help others get off drugs, although she'd rather not
disclose what drug she used.

Since she's been in the program, she said she's become part of her
2-year-old son's life, been able to hold a job answering phones at a call
center and in general feels better about herself.

"Drug courts do work," Moody said.

"They do help people. You can change your life, no matter what. I'm a
different person now."

MTV producer Rob Masterson also interviewed Hampton Circuit Court Judge
Christopher Hutton and Commonwealth's Attorney Linda Curtis, both who are
actively involved in Drug Court.

Hutton, who meets with participants weekly, said he hopes that the MTV
segment will dispel myths about drug courts. He wants people to know they work.

"Anything that helps the drug court program along is a good thing," Curtis
said. "That MTV is doing this will not only promote the feasibility of the
court in the Commonwealth, but country-

wide. ... The phenomena is spreading because it works."