COUNTY DRUG PROGRAM PRODUCES FIRST GRADUATE

The first-ever graduate of Beaufort County's Juvenile Drug Court program
was set to put the rehabilitation program behind him Monday night and move
on to college, a goal that seemed out of reach a year ago. The boy, now 17,
declined to tell his story because "he wants to put the program behind
him," said Susan Chapan, Juvenile Drug Court's director.

But the young man's graduation, the first and only of the program's
19-month history, is the first sign that the program is reaching Beaufort
County's drug-or alcohol-dependent youth and, Chapan hopes, the first of
many success stories.

"Changing the lifestyle and the direction of one youth makes this whole
program worthwhile," she said.

Since the three-year grant from the S.C. Department of Public Safety for
$217,218 arrived in July 2002, the program has had six students who joined
but either quit or were asked to leave because they couldn't kick their
drug or alcohol habits, Chapan said. Others have lasted, but not yet
graduated. The program has capacity for 15, with six open slots.

Julie Tabor, a counselor for Blueprint for Change, which has contracted
with the program to provide counseling services for court-mandated Juvenile
Drug Court participants, said she teaches teenagers they're better off
fighting their habits.

"We're looking at the factors in their life to prevent them from being
responsible and productive members in society," she said. "It could be that
they have a learning disability. It could be that they struggle in
relationships. It could be that the parents have maybe let the limits go
for so long that they don't know how to rein them back in."

The program has three phases and uses a combination of judicial
supervision, treatment, drug testing, case management, sanctions and
incentives "to increase the leverage of the criminal justice system in an
effort to counteract the negative effects of criminal behavior as a result
of alcohol and other drug abuse," Chapan said.

In the first 16-week phase, for example, participants are required to
undergo six hours of group and individual counseling a week.

Most teenagers in the program started using drugs or alcohol when they were
13 and 14 years old, Chapan said.

"There are so many charges of alcohol and drugs that come through the
school that these kids need the real help that this program is providing,"
she said. "It's long term, it addresses their issues for a year, up close
and personal, but yet it doesn't take them away from their families."

She said there is a greater, untapped need for the service throughout
Beaufort County.

"The kids are using, they're out there using, and they need help."