DRUG COURTS WORKING TO CURB ADDICTION IN VIRGINIA

BIG STONE GAP - Would dealing with drug offenders in a different type
of court and rehabilitation system work in Southwest Virginia to
reduce drug abuse?

That's the question posed by the Lee County Health Coalition, which
sponsored an information session Wednesday night on the drug court
system in Virginia.

Drug courts, although not known to the region, have been operating in
Virginia since 1995.

Donna Boone, drug case management specialist for the Virginia Supreme
Court, described drug courts as a program within a county court
system that deals specifically with nonviolent drug offenders. The
goal of the program is sobriety.

"Basically a drug court is a specialized court docket where the
people that are in the program come once a week at a certain time,
and they come all together. ... Generally they have felony drug
possession offenses. Drug courts don't let any violent offenders into
the program. They don't allow any drug pushers in the program. They
only allow drug possession and drug-related offenses," Boone said.

Drug courts combine all the essentials of a rehabilitation program -
the court system, mental health counselors and probation officials,
and the offenders - working together to prevent future drug-related
criminal behavior. The program is tailored to the individual and can
last for more than a year.

Instead of sentencing offenders to jail time for drug offenses, a
drug court works one on one to rehabilitate the offender. Treatment
is provided to offenders, and heavy, "intense" probation is required.

"The reason dealing with these people is different than the way the
criminal justice system has handled it before is that before they
have just been tried and convicted and sent to jail, and basically
that is all that happens," said Boone. "What judges and other
criminal justice and treatment professionals found out is that it
didn't do anything to help them. In fact, they just got worse. Just
giving them a little bit of treatment didn't help either, so they
decided to try something else.

"The intense treatment means that at least at the beginning,
treatment three times a week and on top of that AA (Alcoholics
Anonymous) or NA (Narcotics Anonymous) on top of the treatment. And
they can be tested as much as five times a week. Virtually there is
no way to slip through the system. And on top of that, they have to
come back and visit the judge at least once a week."

Another difference in the drug court system is a better understanding
of drug addiction as a disease, Boone added.

"They work with them to support them while they are going through
their life. They do more than just give intense treatment. They help
them with their education, housing and financial needs, family
problems. They will look at the addict holistically," Boone said.

The program is working in Virginia and has drastically reduced the
re-incarceration rates of drug offenders. Boone said in
Charlottesville, only 2.4 percent of program graduates are
re-arrested for felony offenses. In Roanoke, it's 3.6 percent. The
traditional court re-incarceration rate is 50 percent.

To get the program working in Southwest Virginia, Boone said the
region needs judges and commonwealth's attorneys who are interested
and committed to trying something new. Although there are costs to
implement the program, Boone said there are long-term savings by
bringing incarceration rates down.

Greg Stewart, a Lee County pharmacist and member of the Lee County
Health Coalition, said he believes drug courts may be the answer to
reducing the drug problem in Southwest Virginia, specifically with
OxyContin.

"One of the things that you see in the addict is that the addict is
not the only person that is affected. It's the family and their
relationships. The concept of drug courts involves a long-term
intensive treatment program that helps break that cycle. And rather
than sending someone to short-term treatment or jail, with long term
I think the benefits are staggering," Stewart said.