DRUG COURT NEEDS MONEY

Drug courts are building a record of success, a judge said.

BENTONVILLE -- Innovative drug courts will need more money from the
state in 2003, Judge Jay Finch advised a state legislator from Benton
County.

There are six drug courts in the state, including one in Benton
County that started last summer. Dedicated to changing drug
offenders' behavior, drug courts provide an opportunity for the
courts to use both conventional and unconventional methods to try to
help drug offenders turn their lives around.

The courts work closely with treat tment agencies, community
organizations, probation officers and therapists. A judge is allowed
to do more than he or she would in a traditional court situation, and
has the authority to closely monitor a participant, to help with the
person's numerous issues and to dole out rewards -- the reduction or
cancellation of a fine, for instance -- as well as to issue
punishments.

A necessary and worthwhile alternative to traditional methods of
treatment and/or rehabilitation, which are often ineffective, the
nontraditional drug courts have been started with money that may not
be available in the future, and so will need to get new state funding
in the next session of the Arkansas Legislature, Finch said Wednesday.

Realizing that money sources used to set up the program can't be
counted on in the future, Finch, a supporter of the drug court, has
already talked with one of Benton County's state lawmakers, state
Rep. Shirley Borhauer, R-Bella Vista, and urged her to seek some
state funding for drug courts in next year's legislative session,
Finch said.

"They (current funding sources) pay for the drug court probation
officer, the drug court counselor and the supplies that they use. I
told her (Borhauer) that starting in the next legislative session, we
ought to work toward funding these drug courts out of state funds,
because the grants may end," Finch said.

Borhauer said she had a long talk with Finch about drug courts, is
trying to get a legislative study of how they work, and hopes that
more state funding will be made available for the drug courts in 2003.