KILLING DRUG COURTS WOULD BACKFIRE

One of North Carolina's smartest anti-crime/public-safety programs -
quite possibly the smartest - soon could die for lack of $1.1 million.

"Drug courts" specialize in that difficult problem, steering addicts
into treatment in nine counties, including New Hanover. Despite their
success, they are being threatened with the loss of state funding.
Unless they found money from other sources, they'd have to close.

That would cost the taxpayers a lot more than they'd save. It also
would mean more drug addicts on the streets and more alcoholics
behind the wheel. That would mean more crime, more injuries and more
deaths.

Without drug courts, more addicts and alcoholics would be sent to
prison. Prison costs about 10 times as much as court-ordered
treatment. It fails to rehabilitate. It introduces addicts to serious
criminals, dims their prospects of honest employment, and then sends
them back into society. The results are predictable.

Statewide, 47 percent of addicts who are sent to prison get
re-arrested after they get out. The arrest rate for addicts who've
been through court-ordered rehabilitation is less than half that: 21
percent.

Like other parts of state government, the court system is being
forced to slash and burn so North Carolina can balance its budget.
The system's spokesman points out that its main job is to run regular
courts, not innovative alternatives to them.

But in the long run, the best way to save the state's money and deter
crime and heartbreak is to expand these courts, not kill them. If
lawmakers and Gov. Mike Easley can't do that this year, they at least
can find $1.1 million to leave the drug courts we have now.

Shutting them down would be worse than stupid. It would be criminal.