LOST DRUG ADDICTS FIND TREATMENT

It was lump-in-the-throat time even if you didn't know any of the graduates.

The look of triumph on faces that a year ago appeared ravaged would move
the most jaded heart. One by one, 17 people received certificates from Palm
Beach County's drug court and expressed the same sentiment: Substance-abuse
treatment works.

"I had no intention of staying straight," a 61-year-old man admitted, "but
it was the start of saving my life." Deborah Good, who went through the
yearlong treatment with her husband, Gerald, sounded amazed at her
accomplishment. "I was a crack addict for 12 years."

A pony-tailed musician cradling his guitar told a courtroom packed with
friends and relatives: "I've been a drug addict most of my life, giving
myself a slow death. This is a gig I've never had before." Then, with a
grateful nod at County Judge Nelson Bailey, who presides over the drug
court, he played Amazing Grace. "I once was lost," he sang, then paused to
say, "and lemme tell you, I was really lost...." He got a standing ovation.

Last month's graduating class was the largest yet for the 2-year-old drug
court. More than 60 people have completed the program and had drug charges
against them dropped. About 200 more are under court- supervised treatment.

Florida began its experiment with drug courts in 1999 with 34 programs.
More than 60 now operate statewide. Each year, 12,000 men and women
arrested on drug charges choose treatment over jail and successfully
complete the program, about 43 percent of the "market." State officials
want to reach 25,000 people, or 66 percent.

Another approach to making treatment the priority is the Florida Drug
Treatment Initiative, which missed being approved for November's election
but will be on the 2004 ballot. Last week, sponsors of the controversial
amendment charged that politics skewed the fiscal impact statement -- what
taxpayers can expect to pay for it -- now required.

Miami attorney Sydney Smith, who co-wrote the initiative, was angry.
"Government analysts proved that our measure would save Florida at least
$55 million a year," he said. The final ballot language, however, proposed
by "the governor's people," said the impact would be "indeterminate" with
"unknown" savings.

That may be because Gov. Bush opposes the initiative, which would amend
Florida's Constitution to allow people arrested on drug charges to elect
treatment over the slammer. Though it sounds like it would simply codify
what occurs in drug courts, he thinks it's an attempt to legalize drugs.
Florida drug czar Jim McDonough worries that addicts could manipulate the
system because it doesn't provide the sanctions and supervision of a court.
Mr. McDonough doesn't dispute that treatment saves money, however. In
Florida, treatment costs about $3,000 a year. Prison costs $19,000.

Arizona was the first state to pass such an initiative. Michigan, Ohio and
the District of Columbia will vote on one in November. In California, where
the initiative has been in effect for a year, officials are finding that
many offenders are homeless, have psychiatric problems and are more heavily
addicted than they had expected. Money is also a concern. The initiative
provided only $120 million a year for all of California's 58 counties.

Whatever approach one favors, the happy fact is that the nation is moving
away from imprisoning lawbreakers who have a public health problem. To some
people, treatment in lieu of jail may sound like an easy out. Palm Beach
County drug court graduates will tell you it was tougher than they had
expected.

One young man, explaining how he got through it, told the audience: "You
take it one day at a time. You think about your life and your loved ones,
what you put them through." Then he introduced his parents, who stood
smiling proudly amid the applause. When he left the courtroom, his arm was
around his mother. Like the other graduates, he positively glowed.