DRUG COURTS CAN BE EFFECTIVE ALTERNATIVE

Cobb's new drug court accepted its first case last week, a 19-year-old
college student from Tifton arrested with a large amount of marijuana.

Referred as a first offender with strong family support and a low risk
of abusing drugs again, the student will undergo 18 months of
counseling, weekly court reviews and random drug tests. He will pay
fees toward the $2,400 treatment program, and if he concludes the
program successfully, charges may be dismissed.

Drug courts are gaining currency as an alternative to incarceration.
They are both cheaper than jail and --- when they are well-run ---
more effective because they emphasize treatment that may prevent
future drug abuse.

Cobb's drug court was too late for the bank executive convicted
recently of forging prescriptions for a painkiller addiction after
painful back surgery.

"Even though he was a first offender, after his felony conviction he
lost his job, his family lost their home, everything," says County
Superior Court Administrator Skip Chesshire.

At least 60 percent of Cobb County's estimated 2,300 inmates are held
on drug-related offenses, says Sheriff Bill Hutson. With jail space at
a premium, and one in 32 adults in the country behind bars, on parole
or probation, Hutson is one of numerous law enforcement officials who
believe drug treatment is a necessary alternative to
incarceration.

There are now nearly a thousand drug courts across the country; more
than half were established in the past two years. Cobb's new drug
court offers intense judicial oversight of drug treatment for
nonviolent adult first offenders. It will accept riskier cases as it
gains experience, Chesshire says.

As more jurisdictions open drug courts, it's crucial that they learn
to run them well. Overall, drug treatment courts have a 70 percent
retention rate of participants, and 73 percent retain or obtain
employment, according to the National Drug Court Institute.

But success rates vary among different programs. The federal General
Accounting Office reported this year that more information is needed:
The Justice Department "continues to lack vital information that the
Congress, public and other program stakeholders may need to determine
the overall impact of federally funded drug court programs and to
assess whether drug court programs are an effective use of federal
funds," the GAO said.

Fulton County's drug court, with a million-dollar budget, is an
example of a program that may need an overhaul. It has enrolled 1,063
participants since 1997, but only 227 have graduated, and 43 of those
graduates have gotten into trouble with the law again.

By contrast, the Camden/Glynn County Drug Court, presided over by
Brunswick Judicial Circuit Judge Amanda Williams, has been named a
national model by the Justice Department. It operates on a $674,000
budget with 216 current participants.

Since the two-year treatment programs began, the Camden/Glynn court
has graduated 88 participants while terminating another 99 for failure
to follow the rules of the program; it reports only three felony
rearrests of graduates. At a cost of $260 per month per participant
(they're required to pay $1,000 toward their treatment), vs.
incarceration costs of $45 per day, the results are an enormous
improvement on the 50 percent recidivism rate for incarcerated inmates.

The state Department of Corrections is also expanding treatment
options in its prisons. It mandates a course for inmates on substance
abuse risk reduction; the department also has nearly 900 outpatient
treatment slots for probationers and parolees.

The best option, of course, is to offer treatment to minor drug
offenders before they graduate to crime's big leagues and the embrace
of the Georgia Department of Corrections. Drug courts should get used
to the idea that addiction is hard to beat; as long as offenders are
making a sincere effort to stick to the rules, drug courts should
accept them more than once.

For those drug courts struggling to serve all the offenders who need
treatment, there are private services that could be used as backup.
Why not sentence an offender to Alcoholics Anonymous meetings or
Narcotics Anonymous meetings?

While advocates of drug courts need to make sure their programs are
well-run and taxpayers' money spent wisely, the spread of drug courts
with an emphasis on treatment is good news. The possibility of
redemption gives hope not just to offenders but also to society at
large.