DRUG COURTS ARE FACING A CRUNCH

State Is Strapped But Grants Are Ending

FRANKFORT - Kentucky's drug courts, which provide treatment rather
than prison for non-violent criminals addicted to drugs, are running
out of money.

Even as the alternative courts gain credibility, the federal grants
that launched them in more than half of the state's counties since
1993 are starting to expire.

Gov.-elect Ernie Fletcher pledged in his campaign to expand drug
courts to every county. But to maintain existing courts and allow for
modest growth, he needs to find about $15 million in the two-year
budget proposal he offers in January, court officials said. Paying for
drug courts in all 120 counties could increase that to at least $18
million, they said.

The U.S. Justice Department has paid most of the bills through
start-up grants. But the burden will shift to the state, in large part
next summer, said Connie Payne, drug courts manager for the Kentucky
Administrative Office of the Courts.

"The federal grants were only seed money," Payne said last
week.

"The feds did not expect the states to take this expense on without
the drug courts proving themselves first," she said. "Unfortunately,
just as we're proving successful, the state is in the middle of a
financial crisis."

During the campaign, Fletch-er's running mate, former U.S. Attorney
Steve Pence, called drug courts one of the best tools for breaking the
cycle of crime and addiction.

It's certainly cheaper than the alternative.

Putting the average addict through a year of drug court costs about
$3,000, including urine screening at $5 a test; individual, group and
family counseling; and case managers who track participants and report
problems to the sentencing judges. Judges and other court officials
who are involved already get salaries from the state.

By comparison, Kentucky spends about $17,000 to imprison an addict for
a year.

In a bipartisan tone, Democratic and Republican legislators said money
for drug courts should be a top priority, despite an estimated state
revenue shortfall of more than $700 million next year.

"There is no question they're well worth the money -- if we can find
it," said Rep. Jesse Crenshaw, D-Lexington, who chairs the House
budget subcommittee that oversees the courts.

Senate Majority Leader Dan Kelly, R-Springfield, agreed: "For the cost
of building a single new prison, we could implement drug courts
statewide, and frankly get a much better return on our capital."

Competition Is Increasing

According to Payne, the Kentucky drug courts manager, federal grants
set to expire next summer include those paying for drug courts in
Lexington, Louisville, Covington, Owensboro and elsewhere. The state
already pays some of the court costs in Lexington, she added.

More federal start-up grants are on the way, including $1.8 million
that U.S. Rep. Hal Rogers, R-Ky., plans to announce today for new drug
courts in Eastern Kentucky.

But start-up grants last only two to three years. Complicating
matters, the U.S. Justice Department has cut funding for its
drug-court grants to about $45 million this year, and Kentucky is not
going to receive any grants to continue its existing courts.

"These grants are very competitive, and they're going to get more so
as the pool of money shrinks," Justice Department spokeswoman Linda
Mansour said.

Kentucky's dilemma is typical, said Michael Bird, chief federal
lobbyist for the National Conference of State Legislatures. The
federal government is reducing its domestic spending just as the
states can least afford to pay their own way, Bird said.

"Until 1999, states were willing and able to pick up the tab for
programs once federal money ran dry. Now states are more likely to cut
back on the programs, or just let them die," Bird said.

Counseling And Monitoring

Drug courts give alcoholics and drug users a chance to avoid prison if
they are charged with non-violent crimes related to their addictions.

Drug-court participants receive intensive addiction counseling for one
to two years. They report weekly to their sentencing judges, and more
frequently than that to probation officers or case managers. For their
first few months, their urine is checked three times a week for signs
of drug use; later, urine tests are weekly.

Juvenile addicts must stay in school and obey a curfew. Adult addicts
must hold jobs and advance their education, particularly if they're
school dropouts. In Fayette County, for example, judges have assigned
book reports to defendants in their 30s and 40s.

Kentucky's drug courts have graduated more than 1,000
people.

But the program is hardly a cure-all: It's not uncommon for
participants to relapse into drug use at least once. On average, fewer
than half of the participants graduate. The rest quit or are tossed
out for chronic violations. The lost cases return to the regular court
system, where a traditional sentence typically had been put on hold.

Those who succeed tend to fare better in life than defendants who
don't enter or complete drug court. A 2001 study of the state's
original drug courts, in Louisville, Lexington and Bowling Green,
concluded that graduates were less likely to be rearrested within 12
months, and more likely to hold jobs and pay child support.

One of those graduates, George Moorman, said he's proof that throwing
an addict behind bars is wasteful.

Moorman, 51, ended decades of cocaine use and theft after a judge
diverted him to Fayette County's drug court during the mid-1990s.

Today, Moorman works at the Mayor's Training Center in Lexington,
educating parents on their obligation to pay child support. He's also
studying at the University of Kentucky for a doctorate in psychology
and counseling. He said he hopes to help other addicts.

"I want to go back to the streets," he said, "and help clean up some
of what I messed up."