ADDICTS TURN TO COURT FOR HELP

Program Strives For Participants' Recovery, No Jail

Charles -- no last names allowed -- told fellow addicts how he once
thought he could control his drug and alcohol use, but now knows
better.

"You think you owe yourself that high, that you can do it just that
once. But once is never enough," said the ponytailed middle-aged man,
who has spent years bouncing in and out of jail.

Charles is struggling with a cocaine and heroin addiction that at one
time reached $500 a day.

"I am pledging sobriety today, and I will succeed," he said.

The room erupted in applause.

The scene could have been any of dozens of Alcoholics Anonymous or
Narcotics Anonymous meetings held every day in metro Detroit.

But it wasn't. It was an Oakland County Circuit courtroom.

Charles and 11 other Oakland county residents are the first to take
part in the county's new Adult Treatment Court, part of a growing
nationwide trend to find more efficient and effective ways to treat
people whose addictions have led them to crime.

The old way of just locking up users doesn't work, and the proof is
in the numbers. Two-thirds of the nation's prisoners have drug or
alcohol problems. Four out of five will commit new crimes once they
are released, often as a way to resume their addictions, according to
studies by the U.S. Department of Justice.

There are 700 such courts in the nation. Michigan, including Wayne
and Macomb counties, has 17. All have been developed in the last 12
years as a way to fight the cycle of addiction and crime.

Oakland's program, more than a year old, is designed to keep addicts
who have committed nonviolent crimes out of jail -- where they would
receive little help -- and start them to recovery through intensive
counseling and a rigorous reporting system.

The first participants began in August, and were recommended for the
program by judges and defense attorneys. Violent offenders are
barred, and intense psychological testing weeds out those who show
little prospect for recovery.

Every other Wednesday, they line up on the wooden benches in Judge
David Breck's courtroom, then take their turns at the podium to
report on their progress. A committee, made up of a prosecutor, a
probation officer, a defense attorney and a court coordinator, sits
nearby and takes notes. Sometimes it asks questions.

The participants are screened for drugs three or four times a week
and report almost daily to a probation officer. Some live in a
residential treatment center under contract with the state.

All were facing between five and 18 months behind bars. Most have a
history of felony convictions, usually from turning to theft and
fraud to support their habits.

Even when they complete the program, their latest felony conviction
will remain on their records.

But Breck and the committee are banking on the hope that it will be
their last brush with the law -- and that with the right kind of
encouragement, support and treatment, the participants will rebuild
their lives.

"How's your grandmother doing?" Breck asked Jeffrey, an alcoholic who
has done well enough in the program to move out of the residential
center and to move in with his grandmother.

Jeffrey attends several meetings a week for recovering addicts and alcoholics.

Breck and his committee have set the courtroom rules, a blend of
counseling, cajoling, interrogation and lecturing.

The often haughty decorum of the courtroom is gone. Breck leaves the
bench occasionally to shake hands -- and even hug -- those who are
progressing. He gives out diplomas and gift certificates to those who
are graduating into a new stage.

Jeffrey says all the attention -- and the pressure -- is working.

"There was a time," he told Breck, "that short of putting me in jail,
there was no way I was going to stop. But I have, and I am grateful."

Breck spent 18 years as a circuit court judge, often sending addicts
to prison, before his retirement in 2000. He returned to the bench to
take over the drug court. The fledgling program is much more
satisfying, he said, because it gives him hope that some of those who
appear before him will rebuild their lives.

But judging the success of the Oakland effort and other courts is not easy.

Because each court varies -- for instance, some treat only drug
addicts, or first-time offenders -- there are no national statistics
to assess how successful such programs are.

There are encouraging signs. American University in Washington, D.C.,
tracks the efforts through its Drug Courts Clearinghouse. It has
found that drug courts are much quicker to respond than the
conventional legal system when a participant goes astray, and that
such tighter monitoring maintains the positive pressure.

The drug courts, as a whole, do reduce drug use and recidivism,
according to the university.

In 2000, a New York state commission reported the state's 20 drug
courts found that only 15 percent of its graduates had been re-
arrested within the first year after completing the program, compared
with 35 percent of addicts released from jail or prison.

Oakland County's program is so new that it's hard to gauge its
success, court officials said.

The first candidates won't graduate until mid-2003, and the county
will track them for three years to see whether they stay clean.

For now, success is measured in small triumphs: a week of clean drug
screens, a new job, reconciliation with a family member.

There are failures. A 21-year-old was dropped from the program, and
is in jail after he was found sleeping in a stolen car. He had sold
his prized guitar to buy heroin.

During a recent hearing, Renee found herself back in trouble and
explaining to Breck and her fellow addicts how she began using drugs
and alcohol again, after going several weeks clean.

"I left my husband. My car broke down. I was hanging around the wrong
people, and I started writing bad checks," she said. "I was under a
lot of stress, and I don't handle stress well."

She turned herself in and voluntarily returned to a residential
treatment program.

Breck encouraged her to stay in the drug court program. "We're all
behind you," he said.