SALVAGING YOUNG LIVES

In less than two years of operation, the Rowan County Juvenile Drug
Treatment Court has proved that teen-agers with serious drug problems can
turn their lives around, given a no-nonsense regimen of rules and rewards.

But it requires heavy-duty intervention -- counseling, court monitoring and
family involvement -- and it isn't easy for participants to meet the
challenge. While the court celebrated its sixth successful graduate last
week, others who started the program have struggled to stay straight and
clean. It's much easier to tumble into addiction than to break free from
it, a point made by graduate Michelle Foose last week when she talked about
the horrible mess her life became when she began abusing marijuana and
alcohol at age 15.

Although there's no fool-proof inoculation against teen drug use, study
upon study has pointed to parental involvement as the best anti-drug
strategy. Parents who stay a part of their children's lives are most likely
to be the strongest influence on their behavior.

Yet, while that works for the majority of youngsters, others who develop
addictions need help in turning their lives around -- which is where this
pilot program comes in.

Chief District Judge Charlie Brown oversees and has been an energetic
advocate for the pilot project, which was initiated under former Chief
District Court Judge Anna Mills Wagoner before her appointment as U.S.
Attorney for North Carolina's Middle District. The program received a
substantial boost last October, with a $500,000 grant from the U.S. Justice
Department that will provide funding for three years, enabling it to hire a
coordinator and expand the number of teens it serves.

In addition to the money, the program also has benefitted from the
cooperation of the Juvenile Crime Prevention Council, the Youth Services
Bureau, the District Attorney's Office, Piedmont Behavioral Health Care,
the Clerk of Court's office and others.

It's an unpleasant fact of life that such a program is needed -- in Rowan
County and every other county in North Carolina. You only need look back at
last week's headlines -- with 49 students arrested on drug charges in an
Alamance County undercover operation -- to get a sense of how much is at stake.

While prevention is the most-effective strategy, the lives of many
juveniles who go astray can still be rehabilitated. In its short existence,
the Juvenile Drug Treatment Court has salvaged some of those lives and
provided a model that should help establish similar programs elsewhere.