DUFFY'S DRUG COURT CRITICISM WILDLY INACCURATE

Judge Candidate Blames $500,000 Error On Newspaper Coverage Of Program

Drug court has apparently become a political issue. Fifth District Judge
candidate Laurel Duffy appeared on a local television show last week to
offer criticism of the program that was implemented earlier this year by
Judge Robert Lane and members of Nye County's law and order community.

Lane is seeking re-election. Duffy and Deputy District Attorney Sharon
Dockter will challenge him in the upcoming election. On Monday's session of
drug court, Lane did not mention names but told participants the program
could be short-lived due to its detractors.

On television, Duffy said the three counseling sessions participants must
attend each week could end up costing taxpayers $500,000. That is
incorrect. Those who volunteer for the program must pay their own
counseling fees and other costs associated with drug court. There is no
burden to taxpayers other than ancillary costs associated with using
district court facilities.

On Tuesday, Duffy said she was unaware that participants pay their own way,
and gauged her cost estimate based on 100 participants undergoing three
counseling sessions a week at $40 per session. "I don't think you've made
that clear in the (PVT) articles," she said. Currently, there are 11
participants who pay $10 per session directly to local licensed drug
counselors who have agreed to be part of the drug court team.

While Duffy has been critical of the drug court in Pahrump, she made it
clear she is familiar with similar programs such as Clark County's drug
court ran by Judge Jack Lehman. Duffy said Lehman's court is ran well
because of federal grants, funding Lane did not receive because the money
is no longer available following the Sept. 11 terror attacks.

Conceding the counseling payment issue was not as she thought, Duffy said
her real concern is with the participants in Pahrump's drug court. "I don't
think a majority are clean at all. The premise of drug court is to clean
them up so the don't commit crime."

Duffy said she is not against drug courts or the promise they may hold, and
is a member of a local nonprofit that's trying to build a recovery home for
women in Pahrump. She said she has taught teenagers in a residential home
in Las Vegas. "I'm concerned with letting them stay in the program just to
stay in the program," she said. "Judge Lehman lets them have one dirty
test, the next one and they're out."

She was wrong again, according to Candis Stake, the drug court manager for
Clark County's Eighth Judicial District. "No," said Stake. "Drug addiction
is what we're treating them for. It wouldn't make sense to kick them out
for relapses." Stake said the only "absolute" violations that merit
expulsion from the Clark County drug courts are adulterated urine specimens
or the third issuance of a bench warrant.

Stake said Judge Lehman would sanction participants who test dirty to jail
time or community service, which is how things are done in Lane's courtroom.

The Clark County drug court program has been in existence for 10 years. In
that time, Stake said over 2,200 addicts graduated and only 16 percent of
them were later arrested for a crime. "That means 84 percent never again
engage in criminal activity," she said, adding a recent study concluded
200,000 crimes were prevented since 1992 in Las Vegas due to drug court.
Participants gave birth to 300 babies over the decade; babies that Stake
said could have been born addicted to drugs if not for the program. She
said that roughly $25 million was saved in healthcare costs alone, saying
the staggering figure was conservative. "One drug baby can cost up to $1
million to treat over the first two years of his or her life," said Stake.

Duffy said she has met some of the participants who have graduated from
Lehman's program. "I've been quite impressed with them ... but not to
progress at all does not send a good message." While the Pahrump drug court
is in its infancy and most participants are having a rough go of things,
Stake said it takes a while before participants show a benefit. "You notice
the change. They start looking better and dressing nicer and thinking
clearer. It takes time."

Lane and the drug court team for weeks have wrestled with the issue of
multiple dirty tests and other violations. On Monday the judge laid down
the law, so to speak, and warned participants of the implementation of
several new changes.

In the coming weeks Duffy will likely see one or more participants expelled
from the program for repeatedly failing to abide by the rules, but Lane is
certain - as is Duffy - that more addicts are waiting in the wings to take
their place. Based on figures compiled by the state Division of Parole and
Probation, there are roughly 6,000 drug addicts in Pahrump. Ninety percent
of them are hooked on meth, a crude street drug linked to a rise in theft
offenses and violent crime.

For Stake, the value of drug court is a no-brainer and not just for the
participants, but to the valley as a whole. Said Stake: "These people are
already in your community. Would you rather they continue using drugs or
would you want to see them get clean and not commit crimes?"

Lane declined to comment for this article.