DRUG COURT IS SAVING LIVES

The statistics - including money the public saves by not supporting people
in jail and the contributions these same people can make as they are being
rehabilitated - are proof enough that drug court is a good thing.But that's
only the beginning of the story. More important is the human element, the
changed lives, the families that are renewed, hope that is rekindled. I was
already sold on drug court, which was instituted in the 14th Judicial
District by Circuit Judge Keith Starrett a few years ago. But I'm even more
convinced now after attending graduation exercises for some of the
participants Monday at the Pike County Courthouse. Anyone who doubts the
program works should attend one of those ceremonies where participants get
a certificate and are invited, along with family members, to testify about
their turnaround. It gets emotional at times, and it's hard to hold back
tears as stories are told about what was two years ago and what is today.
One man, a college graduate, who admitted he slipped during his
rehabilitation, told about having to spend 10 days in jail which, he now
says, was a learning experience. "I wasn't cut out for jail," he said, and
the experience will help him stay on the road to recovery. Drug court, for
the uninformed, is a program whereby certain non-violent felons who are
believed to be addicted to drugs or alcohol are given a chance to enter a
closely monitored and supervised treatment and rehabilitation program
instead of going to prison. Drug dealers are not eligible, only those whose
crimes are believed to be related to an addiction. The other circuit judge
in the district, Mike Smith, and the district attorney's office fully
cooperate. Defendants recommended for the program by the DA's office must
enter guilty pleas to their crimes, and if they mess up the judge can send
them to prison. If they do well, they ultimately will go back to society
without a prison record. Some mess up. A lot don't.

My opinion is that most of those who graduated Monday, without having to go
to the State Penitentiary, will do a lot better - in fact already are doing
better because most of them now have jobs - than they would have had they
gone to Parchman or even if they had not been arrested in the first place.
Many people who go to prison come out hardened criminals. State Rep. Jim
Barnett, a Brookhaven physician, told Monday of an acquaintance who was
never arrested but died of a drug overdose. I was invited by Starrett to
attend Monday's ceremonies to introduce state Supreme Court Chief Justice
Edwin L. Pittman, who was the keynote speaker. Pittman and I were in the
same Sunday School class in Hattiesburg a long time ago. During his
political career, Pittman served as a state senator and desk mate of
then-state Sen. R.B. Reeves of McComb. Later he was secretary of state,
attorney general and Supreme Court justice. He long has been one of the
good guys in Mississippi politics, in my view. He has been on the side of
progressive judicial reforms since being chief justice, and now he plans to
back legislation making drug courts statewide. Barnett, along with Reps.
Clem Nettles of Pike County and Kenny Moore of Columbia, who also were at
Monday's graduation, are among sponsors of the legislation. Barnett
predicts it'll pass next year. Pittman said he'll use the success of the
local drug court, the first in Mississippi, to try to convince the
Legislature to make it statewide. "I keep hearing that big government is
dead," Pittman said, "and that's OK. But effective government is needed."
Regional drug courts throughout the state, properly run like the one in
Pike, Lincoln and Walthall County, would be effective government. As
someone observed at the conclusion of Monday's ceremony, "Pike County
finally got it right."

Charles Dunagin is a retired editor and publisher of the McComb
Enterprise-Journal.