DRUG TREATMENT COURT BREAKING CRIME CYCLE

Therapy Program Alternative to Jail for Addicts

Only Three of 75 'Graduates' Have Re-Offended

Five years after the country's first drug treatment court was set up
in Toronto, officials say the program is showing definite signs of
success.

That success is measured by the dozens of "graduates," hard-core
cocaine and heroin addicts who have remained drug-free after opting to
undergo treatment instead of being sent to jail for drug
convictions.

Yesterday many of them crowded into Courtroom 121 at Old City Hall --
the place where they first agreed to break a years-long cycle of drugs
and crime -- to celebrate the specialized court's fifth
anniversary.

Under the program, non-violent addicts who choose to enter the program
are required to plead guilty to their drug offence, submit to weekly
urine tests and participate in intense group therapy at the Centre for
Addiction and Mental Health. To graduate, they must be drug-free,
living in stable housing and working or attending school or job retraining.

An evaluation of the court's progress has found that of the 75 who
have graduated from the court so far, only three have been convicted
of criminal charges since graduation. About 50 others are currently in
the program at various stages of treatment.

There have been four pregnant women in the program and all of their
babies have been born drug-free.

"This is not an easy program. These people have really jumped through
hoops," said Richard Coleman, co-ordinator of the drug treatment court.

During yesterday's ceremony another six people graduated, including
52-year-old Hollis Pyle, who was arrested and charged with cocaine
possession more than a year ago. At the time, he was a binge crack
smoker on weekends, spending up to $1,000 a week on his habit while
holding down a job as an auto spray painter. He had been arrested in
the past for shoplifting.

"Getting caught was the best thing that ever happened to me," he said,
smiling and shaking hands as other former addicts congratulated him.

Since the Toronto court's inception in 1998, two other drug treatment
courts have opened, in Vancouver and St. John, N.B., and the federal
government, as part of a national drug strategy, has committed $23
million to keeping those courts open and funding courts in three more
Canadian cities. The locations have yet to be announced.