DRUG COURT

Legal Experiment Becoming A Successful Program

Drug addiction is a personal problem with public repercussions. Dealing
with it as a crime, however, has proven to be expensive, painful and too
often futile. Drug courts are an attempt to provide an alternative that
benefits both society and the individual.

The experiment seems to be working. At a Wednesday meeting to review the
first year of the 6th Judicial District's drug court, representatives of
the legal system and law enforcement agreed that the program is a humane
and cost-effective method for handling and helping drug offenders.

That is not to say drug court is a warm and fuzzy affair; far from it.
Twenty-two people are in the program, and each case is reviewed by the
District Attorney's Office. Individuals must be nonviolent and their
problems must be drug-related, not just criminal.

Then they are subject to random drug tests, probation and drug- addiction
treatment. They perform community service and must report to the court
regularly.

Drug court offers offenders both carrots and a stick. Failing a drug test
can land them in jail. Good work can lead to the forgiveness of certain
fees and other rewards. The successful completion of the program means the
offender's record will not show a felony conviction.

The taxpayers win, too. The drug court program is cheaper than jail,
results in less time spent in jail and reduces the load on our overburdened
judicial system. Any improvement in helping addicts recover also has a real
value to the community.

Jails are notoriously costly and not particularly effective as teaching
tools. That is especially true in dealing with people in the throes of
addictions. Treatment and the kind of structured program administered as
part of the drug-court program offer a cheaper, and possibly more
effective, alternative.

The 6th Judicial District's drug court owes its existence in part to Jim
Dyer, who represented Southwest Colorado in both the state House of
Representatives and the state Senate. He sponsored a bill that provided the
court's first funding - $38,000 to operate from January through July 2001,
and another $70,000 to continue until July of this year. It is one of four
pilot programs operating in Colorado.

There are no magic wands for dealing with illegal behavior, no perfect
formulas for treating addictions. But there are methods proven not to work
and alternatives worth trying.

Drug court's first year strongly suggests it is a path worth pursuing.