ONE LIFE AT A TIME

There is an anniversary of sorts coming up in October that few know about.
Back in 1993, the formulation of a plan started coming together in Georgia
that would give people the opportunity to grab their lives back. It was a
simple seminar to explain how a special drug court program, started in
Oregon, works.

Basically, a special drug court is a court-supervised substance abuse and
rehabilitation program. Before the special drug court program formed,
offenders were caught in a never-ending merry-go-round of abuse. Everyone
paid the price, the offender, his or her family, and the community at large.

The organizers of the special drug court had come to the realization that
incarceration had not worked, so it was time to try something new. A pilot
program was started in 1994 right here in Bibb County.

Before you start thinking that the drug court is just another feel good
program that takes it easy on offenders, think again. Drugs are equal
opportunity. They don't care what your station in life is or the color of
your skin or your gender.

The drug court program works and to graduate is not easy. The program lasts
for 26 weeks and those enrolled submit to a urinalysis each week, sometimes
twice a week, and can be tested at random.

Once in the program, (by the way, offenders pay $500 each toward the cost
of the program) if an offender falls off the wagon, the original charges
can still be prosecuted.

Don't take my word that the program works. Here are the numbers. From
January 1, 1994 to December 2002, 1,048 males and 332 females have entered
the program. Of that number 394 finished the program and graduated.

Of the graduates, only 11.5 percent have been arrested again for a drug
related crime. Before you start wondering how I can claim the program a
success when 71 percent who enter don't finish, think about this. Before
the drug court, there were few other treatment options and way more than 11
percent found themselves in jail again and again. That saves you and me
money in a number of ways.

However, like any program it faces its financial woes. The total cost of
the program runs $200,000 annually. That's a big chunk of change if you
think about it in a vacuum, but think about it with this in mind. In 1998
four women graduated from the program. They were either pregnant or became
pregnant while enrolled. Instead of giving birth to a drug addicted
children, which can easily run as high as the total cost of the special
drug court, the women gave birth to healthy non-addicted children. They got
their lives back and saved the lives of their children. How much is that worth?

According to the court's eight-year annual report, it has saved the county
$797,850, just on what it would have cost to lock up the 394 graduates.

There are a number of people responsible for this program from the
oversight committee to program administrators, but frankly, the program
wouldn't exist without Superior Court Judge Tommy Day Wilcox. He caught the
vision and has pushed it forward since that initial seminar held almost 10
years ago.

I've been to the drug courts' graduations. I've listened to the testimony
of people who have completed the program. Many just needed a chance, or a
push, to seek treatment. It's a structured chance to start life over.
Offenders can hold down jobs and hold their families together and get the
kind of help they need to kick their habits.

Drugs are a poison that touches all aspects of society. They suck the life
out of people everyday. The drug court doesn't save everybody, but it at
least saves somebody. How much is that worth?