Series: Four Lives, One Last Chance - A Year In Drug Court: Part 41 Of 41

ACT VI. EPILOGUE: THE FUTURE OF DRUG COURT

Despite the success stories, Newport News' Drug Court, and others around
the state, have been in a continual battle for their financial survival.

Since the first Virginia drug court was formed in Roanoke in 1995, the
programs have fed off money cobbled together from all levels of government.

When the state began picking up more and more of the bills, the General
Assembly asked for a study of the programs. The glowing report was given to
lawmakers in 2000. It found that national evaluations of drug courts "have
been most positive," and the program's cost effectiveness was "readily
apparent."

"The Commonwealth should continue the funding for established drug court
programs," the report concluded.

Many people working for drug courts believed 2002 would be the year when
they would earn a permanent spot on the Virginia budget.

But that was before the 2001 budget impasse that left a $3.8 billion hole
for Gov. Mark Warner when he took office in 2002. Legislators meeting in
Richmond made up the difference by slashing money and programs wherever
they could.

All state money for Virginia's drug courts was eliminated, but the governor
restored nearly all the funds with a last-minute budget amendment.

Warner's plan for saving drug courts in the latest and next rounds of state
budget cuts involves using the state's Byrne grants - money from the
federal government - to replace state tax dollars. For the next year and a
half, the grants would pay for 75 percent of drug courts' costs, as long as
local governments agree to pick up the rest.

The following year, local government would be required to pay for half the
costs, then pay 75 percent the year after that.

"If the General Assembly tells us to use the Byrne funds differently, then
we'll have to change our thinking," said Dan Catley, the chief of
correctional services for the state Department of Criminal Justice
Services. "But right now this is the plan, and it's been blessed at every
level possible."

Catley said the Byrne funds should be "a lifeline for at least the existing
drug courts."

Natale Ward, the Newport News Drug Court administrator, said the
Hampton-Newport News Community Services Board has agreed to provide the
matching funds for at least the next year and a half, although many details
have to be worked out.

"It gives us a reprieve," she said. "We were looking at possibly not being
funded at all."

In the meantime, the programs have continued to be popular both locally and
statewide.

Hampton won a federal grant earlier this year to begin its own program, and
Newport News began a drug court for juvenile offenders this year. The
juvenile court also is facing funding troubles.

In Newport News, Circuit Court Judge Edward L. Hubbard has begun hearing
Drug Court cases - the third judge to take on the duty - and city leaders
continue to be enthusiastic supporters. Howard Gwynn, the city's
commonwealth's attorney, said he supports the program "100 percent," and
Police Chief Dennis Mook said he'd like to see it expanded.

"It's needed everywhere," the chief said.

But the future of drug court may depend on its supporters' ability to prove
that the program works.

Nationally, few studies have been conducted on drug courts. Because it
takes at least 10 years worth of data, conclusive studies weren't conducted
when the programs were new. Now, some researchers say, the data is
available but no one has funded a study.

C. Dennis Simpson, Ph.D., runs a substance-abuse program at Western
Michigan University that works closely with the criminal justice system. He
helped stage the country's first drug court conference and has conducted
drug court training for the past 12 years. He said the federal government
should fund a study, but has not offered the money.

"A lot of this data exists it just hasn't been brought together," he said.
"We're getting beyond 10 years for enough of them to look at it."

Despite the lack of hard figures, many people working in the judicial
system have a "great belief" in drug courts, Simpson said.

"Short-term data and anecdotal data points to the positive," he said. "If
you put me in a corner and say, 'Does it look like this is going to work
better than anything we've done before,' the answer is yes."

But perhaps the greatest argument for drug courts is not found in cold,
empirical data, but in the human effect on someone like Linwood, a former
homeless crack addict. Not only has his life been changed, but the effect
has rippled through his family and their friends, and a system that
previously had no way of dealing with him.

"I don't know of any better alternative than Drug Court for that particular
person," said Judge Conway, who handled Linwood's Drug Court case.

Judge Verbena Askew, the first judge to hear cases in Newport News and one
of the program's founders, said judges rarely see success stories in their
regular duties. Drug Court, however, "gives us some hope that we are making
a difference."

When she began hearing cases, Askew believed Drug Court could be the answer
to the insidious drug problem on the Peninsula. After four years, she now
believes the program is just one part of a larger solution that includes
the treatment path blazed by drug courts.

"I couldn't imagine them doing away with Drug Court," Askew said. "It think
it's effective. It works. As long as we can continue that I think it'll be
here."

The Program

In the year since the reporting on this story ended, some of the graduates
relapsed and were demoted to lower levels of the program. But, so far, only
one of 35 graduates has been rearrested - for shoplifting - and one has
failed out of the program for drug use.

Natale Ward, Al Holmes and Gary Ford continue their daily task of working
with the addicted. Rod Charity resigned this year and took a teaching job
at Lakeland High School in Suffolk, where he also coaches football.

From the graduates who relapsed to Linda's continuing health struggles,
Vernon's money problems, Jennifer's lost children and Linwood's
never-ending fight to right a life spent on the wrong track, it's clear
there will never be a fairy-tale happy ending for many of the people of
Drug Court.

For them, the triumphs and happiness of their lives always will be derived
from overcoming. It will be borne of struggle and strife. It will come from
waking up another day alive and clean, against all the odds. Leading
ordinary lives will be the testament to their success.

Maybe the same can be said for all of us.