DRUG, ALCOHOL COURTS COULD BE SHUT DOWN

Mecklenburg County's drug treatment courts, the first of their kind in
North Carolina, are in jeopardy of being shut down.

The state's budget woes are threatening to do away with Mecklenburg's drug
treatment court, as well as similar courts operating in nine judicial
districts across the state.

The N.C. Administrative Office of the Courts must cut its $305 million
budget for the coming fiscal year by $11 million and has earmarked for
elimination all money for the state's drug treatment courts. This year, the
state spent $1.1 million to fund them.

"It would be a tragedy to lose these courts; a real tragedy," said
Mecklenburg District Judge Phil Howerton, who seven years ago launched the
first such court in Charlotte without any money from the state.

Howerton has written Gov. Mike Easley, urging that funding across the state
be restored.

"These drug treatment courts work," Howerton said in an interview. "If you
stop it, it stops working. It's as simple as that."

Sen. Fountain Odom, D-Mecklenburg, who co-chairs the Senate's
Appropriations Committee, said he will do all in his power to ensure that
the courts are kept open.

"They're good programs," he said.

But Odom warned that these courts, as well as other programs, will face
cuts to balance the budget.

"There are a lot of good programs that will be reduced," Odom said.

Patty McQuillan, spokeswoman for the Administrative Office of the Courts in
Raleigh, said the court system's budget must be cut because of the state's
financial troubles.

"The current budget crisis is forcing the AOC to choose between cutting
programs or closing courts across the state," McQuillan said. "We've got to
maintain court services for the public even though the few programs the
court system has, such as the drug treatment program, have assisted in
turning lives around. But we can't close courts."

Sherrill Barnette, a former addict, graduated from the drug treatment court
program two years ago.

"This program gave me a chance to get my life back," she said.

Barnette, 38, now executive assistant to the director of the drug court
program, praises Howerton for helping her recover.

"He's a wonderful man," she said. "I owe him my life."

Drug courts began in Florida in the late 1980s to ease the burden on
criminal courts and get help for addicts. Today, there are more than 750
drug courts nationwide.

In 1995, Howerton, a former Marine and a recovering alcoholic, assembled a
team of volunteers, including a prosecutor, a public defender and
counselors, to help addicts get treatment.

Today, Mecklenburg operates drug treatment courts aimed not only at drug
addicts but also at repeat drunken driving offenders.

"These are men and women who were out drinking and driving every night of
their lives on the county's roads," Howerton said. "They're not out there
drinking and driving anymore."

Mecklenburg's drug treatment court has drawn attention across the
Carolinas. In North Carolina, similar drug courts have been set up in
Catawba, Buncombe, Durham, Forsyth, New Hanover and Wake counties. In South
Carolina, 10 drug courts are operating.

Donna Smithey, director of Catawba County's DWI treatment court, worries
what will happen to addicts and alcoholics served by the courts across the
state.

"It's very frightening," Smithey said. "We're dealing with people who are
addicts. Without these treatment courts, these people would be in prison. I
don't know what's going to happen to the people we're serving in our court.
That worries me."

Catawba County doesn't get any state money for its treatment court. The
county's Mental Health Services provides treatment for the DWI defendants
at a reduced cost.

Smithey, who is the courts program coordinator for the Mental Health
Services, hoped to get state money next fiscal year to help finance the
treatment court. That, she realizes now, doesn't seem likely.

"If we don't get any money from the state, we may have to close down our
court," she said.

In his letter to the governor, Howerton wrote that studies show the $1.1
million North Carolina spends on drug treatment courts has saved the state
$10 million a year in criminal justice system costs.

North Carolina is spending $2,000 to $2,500 a year on each person in the
drug treatment courts. It costs more than $20,000 a year to house an inmate
in a state prison.

In the letter, Howerton called the success of Mecklenburg's DWI courts,
which have been operating for three years, "nothing short of phenomenal."

"We have a success rate of 76 percent and not one of the 123 ... DWI
defendants has ever been re-arrested for drunken driving," the judge wrote.

In a recent study, the Administrative Office of the Courts followed drug
treatment court participants, both those who graduated and those who were
terminated from the program, for a year. Only 13 percent of Mecklenburg's
graduates were re-arrested, many on minor traffic and misdemeanor charges.

Statewide, 21 percent of the graduates were re-arrested. The re-arrest rate
for a similar group of offenders, who were addicted but did not go into the
treatment program, was 47 percent.

Randy Monchick, who oversees the state's drug treatment courts for the
Administrative Office of the Courts, said: "These are the best justice
system programs we have in the state. They ensure people who need treatment
get it, and they hold them accountable. This is crime control and public
safety at its finest."

More than 225 men and women have graduated from Mecklenburg's drug
treatment courts since their inception in 1995. As the program has grown,
its success rate has increased. Today, about one of every two admitted to
the program graduates.

Mecklenburg Assistant District Attorney Steve Ward, who helped Howerton set
up the drug treatment court, is a staunch supporter of the program.

"I think it works," the veteran prosecutor said. "It does what no other
part of the criminal justice system does -- rehabilitation."

Ward warned that losing the drug treatment program would be costly. "There
are a lot of people who do not need incarceration to get drug treatment.
Our drug treatment court is the cheapest program we have in the courts and
prison systems.

"The loss of our program will end up increasing our recidivism rate. More
people will continue to have drug and alcohol problems, will be charged
again and will continue to clog our court system."