RECOVERING ADDICT SAYS DRUG COURT WOULD SAVES LIVES

One perfect white rose stood in a slender vase on the kitchen counter, and
the heady smell of freshly-brewed coffee filled the air.

"You take sugar?" the attractive lady of the house asked. "How about milk?"
She offered one of those designer creamers.

Our cups resting on place mats in front of us, we looked across the table
at each other and tried to figure out a diplomatic way to open the
conversation.

She's a recovering drug addict who has been clean for more than a decade.
Prior to that, she had used drugs most of her life.

"My parents were both addicts -- mostly alcoholics," she said, "and I
picked up my first drink when I was 12. I started using pot when I was 14."
It seemed normal to her. "When you're brought up in that environment, you
don't know anything different."

Around that same period she began buying amphetamines "at 50 cents a pill.
I'd buy those instead of lunch." She was an athlete who hid her habits well
and relied on amphetamines to help control her weight.

Though she weighed scarcely more than 100 pounds, she considered herself
plump. "So I guess in addition to everything else, I had an eating disorder
too," she said.

In early adulthood, "that whole cocaine thing came around" and she
indulged, but had difficulty financing the drug. "Cocaine costs too much,"
she said, but she found another drug that was considerably less expensive
and more readily available: Methamphetamine, another amphetamine product.

"I had no problem finding a supplier," she said, and she liked the drug.
She suspects she may have an attention deficit disorder, and initially meth
seemed "to help me focus." She was better able to handle the
responsibilities of her white collar job and life seemed good.

But then came the downside of the drug that can cause fatal kidney and lung
disorders, brain damage, liver disease, lowered resistance to infections
and stroke.

"It's a scary drug," she said, explaining that eventually "my body started
to deteriorate." She was sick and knew that something had to be done.
Though meth was no longer giving her that high she craved, she realized
that her system demanded it and that she couldn't possibly quit on her own.
"I had hit bottom."

She entered an inpatient treatment program, completed that and months of
follow-up care, and found a 12-step program that is right for her.

She's one of the lucky ones, and she knows it.

As we spoke last Wednesday, one of her children came in the back door,
greeted us and then headed to the living room. The mother didn't attempt to
shield the youth from the conversation. "We don't have a whole lot of
secrets in this family," she said. Her children, who are still in school,
know about her past and they know that she's working hard behind the scenes
to promote the creation of a drug court in Henderson County.

The realization of that project is essential, she believes, "unless they
just want to keep on building bigger and better jails." As Gleaner reporter
Beth Smith related in a May 18 story, such a court is in the works here and
is intended to offer an intensive rehabilitation program -- an alternative
to jail -- for those charged with non-violent, drug-related crimes.
Eligibility for the program would be determined on a case by case basis.

Beth's research indicated such programs are working in various sites across
the country, with the majority of participants either retaining jobs or
obtaining employment, and less than 4 percent of drug court "graduates"
winding up back in court for drug-related offenses. The recidivism rate for
those convicted of drug offenses in the regular judicial system nationally
is estimated at more than 50 percent.

My interview subject, who asked to remain anonymous because she doesn't
want anyone to judge her kids based on her past, said she came from a large
family and most of her siblings "are in active addiction." She firmly
believes that drug court, "can break that cycle, and that's really important."

She feels that she can help officials determine if a drug court candidate
is sincere. She has a built-in "bull detector" and knows a con job when she
hears one. She can also "spot an addict a mile away." Addicts, she said,
"have their own body language" and she knows "how they think."

For those who believe drug court would be an easy way out for offenders,
she stresses that it's an intensive program that involves treatment,
counseling, attending meetings, getting a job, basic education, financial
accountability and restitution.

She knows that not everyone will be a candidate for the program. Some, she
said, are "vultures" preying on the young, "and need to be put away."

She says creation of a drug court here will save lives and have a domino
effect on those whose lives are touched in one way or another by a drug
addict. So many parents, she said, are in denial about the seriousness of
their offsprings' drug use.

"Society has to pick up where parents leave off."