DRUG COURT HAS ITS FIRST GRADUATE

AG Among Judges, Counselors, Others To Help Celebrate Richmond's
Recovery

Every Thursday in the 4th Judicial District is "good news Thursday,"
Circuit Judge Betty Sanders says.

The news was particularly sweet this Thursday as Harvey Richmond
became the first person to graduate from the district's drug court
program.

"Our drug court participants are tested two to three times a week,"
said Sanders, who manages the program in Leflore County. "That means
when we have Good News Thursday, every participant in our drug court
is clean and sober. Today is Good News Thursday."

There was standing room only in the west courtroom of the Leflore
County Courthouse as about two dozen clean and sober participants
joined judges, attorneys, counselors, narcotics agents and state
Attorney General Mike Moore to celebrate Richmond's recovery.

The years have been long and torturous, Richmond said, since he
entered his descent into drug addiction, a moment he can pinpoint exactly.

"On a Saturday night at Second Avenue and 10th Street in Miami 45
years ago, I was introduced to marijuana by someone I considered a
very good friend, but it's been downhill ever since," he recalled.

After his arrest on a cocaine charge in September 2001, Richmond, 60,
opted to enter the drug court program rather than face a conviction on
the charge. All first-time offenders who have committed non-violent
drug-related crimes are eligible for the program, which suspends the
sentence they would otherwise serve. If participants break their pact
to stay off all drugs and alcohol, they face prison time.

Those weren't necessarily easy terms for Richmond. He was in a bad way
when police found him, Sanders said. "They were afraid to put
handcuffs on him because he was so thin and frail."

Richmond had a long history of drug abuse and little success with
treatment programs. But none of them did what the drug court program
has accomplished, he said.

In a voice that sounds both exhausted from where he has been and
relieved to be where he is now, Richmond told his admirers "drugs are
a conning, baffling thing. It's a sickness. It brings out a badness,
and I'm going to stay away from it."

Moore said it will take everyone who was in the courtroom Thursday and
a concerted community effort to make sure that resolution is kept.
Applauding the drug court's efforts, Moore said the program depends on
people with courage and insight.

"This is something that really is hopeful," he said. "This is
something that really is wonderful. This is something that really is
much different than what usually happens in a courtroom."

Drug court focuses on treatment, not punishment. Making the connection
that addiction is a sickness has been the program's strength,
Washington County Circuit Judge Margaret Carey-McCray.

"Addiction is a disease, and it responds like any other disease to
treatment," said Carey-McCray.

Participants initially enter a formal intensive treatment program - in
Greenwood, Life Help's Denton Center - and then go through an 18-month
monitoring period during which they face regular urine tests and court
visits.

Carey-McCray is credited with bringing the concept to the 4th
District, which covers Leflore, Sunflower and Washington counties. The
court, one of three in the state, began accepting applications about
two years ago and, funded by the three counties and a $50,000 grant
from Moore's office, went into operation in January 2002. This year, a
$500,000 federal grant came through.

Now, there are 45 participants, and drug tests for every one of them
came back negative Thursday.

Despite the support and success, Sanders said the idea of drug court
still meets some resistance.

"When you try to start something new, it's just not easy," said the
judge. "People don't understand. They say, 'You're turning the
criminals out on the street. It's not a good idea. You're soft on
crime. Lock them up and throw away the key.'"

But while drug court might not be a conventional idea, it's the right
one, Moore says. "There will be those who say that's soft on crime.
This is smart on crime, not soft on crime," he said.

Criminalizing drug addiction has led Mississippi to the distinction of
incarcerating more of its citizens per capita than any other state.
More than one-third of the state's inmates are serving time directly
related to substance abuse charges, and two-thirds of the offenses are
indirectly related to drugs, according to Moore's estimates.

"We lock more people up per capita than any other state in America,"
he said. "That's not something to be proud of. We want to be last in
that category."

Drugs tear families apart, Moore acknowledged, but so do prison
sentences. The convicted leave behind small children, husbands, wives
and other family members, he explained.

"There are tears," he said. "And really what it is is not an
investment in success, but an investment in failure."

Richmond attributes his success in the program to a loving, supportive
family. His nephew, the Rev. David Henderson of Greenwood, was his
sponsor throughout the treatment. Drug abuse afflicts more than the
addicted; family members suffer too, Henderson said.

"You can't be all you can be," he explained. "You can't eat as well.
No matter how much you do, there's still a void because of what your
family member is going through."

Henderson said drug court shows that the law can be sympathetic to the
human condition. "It shows the law is concerned about mankind -
mankind not just as it is affected by criminals, but mankind which
needs to help and be helped."

Sanders said she was glad to see another family made whole again. She
was glad also that the good news didn't go unnoticed.

"We want you to see, hear, know, understand and learn that we are
restoring families and saving lives," she said.