DRUG CZAR PRAISES, PUSHES DRUG COURTS

ATLANTA -- The nation's drug czar Tuesday praised Georgia's burgeoning
drug-court system and pushed for an expansion of the programs, which
offer treatment instead of jail time for drug users.

"Drug courts are the places where miracles happen -- where people who
suffer, and cause other people to suffer, are brought together with
the help they need," said John Walters, director of the president's
Office of National Drug Control Policy.

The Atlanta visit kicked off a 25-city tour for Walters, who hopes to
raise awareness about what he calls the benefits of the drug court
system.

Separate drug courts give judges the ability to prescribe supervised
treatment, counseling, drug testing and other social services, instead
of jail time, to usually non-violent drug offenders.

Georgia's first drug court was established in 1994 in Macon.
Currently, the state has 23 drug courts -- 13 for adult felony users,
three for adult misdemeanor cases and seven for juvenile drug offenses.

The system gained renewed interest in January, when Georgia Supreme
Court Chief Justice Norman Fletcher called for more programs and a
better system of tracking defendants who go through the courts.

"We in Georgia are very convinced that the way to turn around people's
lives who have addictions is through the implementation of drug
courts," said Fletcher, who met with Walters on Tuesday morning.

No comprehensive national statistics exist for the success rate of
drug courts -- one of the reasons Fletcher called for a more
comprehensive accountability and evaluation system.

But Walters said some courts have reported success rates of 60-80
percent among defendants who successfully complete rehabilitation
programs, compared to 10-20 percent success rates for drug offenders
who are incarcerated.

State Court Judge Kent Lawrence of Athens presides over a court for
repeat DUI offenders and misdemeanor drug defendants. His sentences
often include job training, counseling and drug tests instead of jail
time

"In 30 years I've been part of the legal system, drug courts are the
only things I've seen that really work," said Lawrence, who spent time
as a police officer and prosecutor before becoming a judge.

Lawrence said incarcerating a drug offender costs about $48 a day,
compared to $29 a week for his rehab program. And he said the rate of
defendants who return to court after completing the program is far
lower than the percentage of those who return after being in prison.

"We have really missed the mark over the years thinking that simply
putting people in jail was going to fix their problems," he said.

Leslie Baker, 54, of Atlanta says she's living proof that the drug
courts work. She said she spiraled from owning her own business to
working as a prostitute because of a drug addiction she couldn't kick
until being sentenced to treatment in the Fulton County drug court.

"It has given me back a new life -- something I never had," she
said.