EDITORIAL - CLEAN AND SOBER

THOSE WITH long memories may remember the lyrics sung by Paul Revere and
the Raiders back in the mid-60s: "You don't need kicks to help you face the
world each day." For the first graduates of the Thunderbolt drug court,
those words ring true.

The 14 former substance abusers who graduated from the program last week
are proof that with the right help and motivation people can overcome
obstacles and succeed in life. It's not easy, but these graduates have
shown they have the courage and the will to change their lives for the better.

Thunderbolt instituted Georgia's first municipal drug court about a year
ago. With a population of 2,430, the town handles an annual drug caseload
of about 300 and was looking for an alternative to incarceration. The drug
court provides just that.

The idea behind the program is to use a strict probation regimen to help
drug and alcohol users turn their lives around and avoid jail time for
drug-related crimes they committed. The program, started with a $10,000
grant from Georgia's Administrative Office of the Courts, combines
supervision, counseling, evaluation and intensive drug treatment if needed.

Clearly, it's not for every offender. Forty defendants started
Thunderbolt's program, but 26 dropped out or were kicked out before
completing the regimen. Another 27 people are currently enrolled in the
program.

Those who made it through the months of supervision and treatment have
started new lives.

At 26, Wendy Johnson used to spend most of her days in one type of a fog or
another, she says, and she dreaded the future. "Getting sober was the
hardest thing I've ever done in my life," she said at the graduation
ceremony, but she now has a job and a chance at a promising future. "I have
more ways to go now."

If that was all the drug court accomplished, it would be enough.

But it also helps to break the connection between drug use and crime in a
community where about a third of the felony cases pending in local courts
are drug related. The drug court also is a cheaper alternative to locking
up non-violent offenders in overcrowded jails and prisons.

But that's just where the participants could end up if they don't stick
with the problem.

The drug court isn't the absolute answer to crime and drug problems in this
community. There are hard-core and violent drug abusers and dealers who
can't be helped by the drug court and must be locked up to protect society.
And there are drug-related crimes that the drug court can't stop. But every
abuser who turns his life around is one less problem for the police to deal
with, and one more working, taxpaying citizen ready to contribute to the
community.

That alone makes this program a success.