Drug Courts Offer Real Help to Addicts

| 03 November 2009

Remember the “War on Drugs?” coined by Nixon in 1969, and discontinued by the Obama Administration in May 2009. This “war” has raged for forty years and poured billions annually into failed programs. According to the Office of National Drug Control Policy, in just one year, 2003, we spent $19 billion on fighting drugs.
Today, jails are overflowing with millions of addicts and the American drug habit has created a criminal empire that has destabilized Mexico and Columbia.
Treating addicts as criminals isn’t helping; punishment doesn’t stop drug use. Locking people up, for decades, for possession, selling and using has taken a huge toll on society. Besides the money, the lock-‘em-up-and-throw-the-key-away mindset ruins lives needlessly, tears families apart and has created the billion dollar prison guard and private prison industries. Here, in California, prison system costs have become a giant albatross around the neck of the Governor, the legislature, and us taxpayers.
There is another way: decriminalize addiction. Treat addicts as patients rather than criminals. Send eligible drug-addicted persons to Drug Court instead of placing them in the criminal justice system.
Pioneers from the first twelve Drug Courts in the nation, judges, prosecutors, defense attorneys and clinical professionals, formed the National Association of Drug Court Professionals (NADCP) in 1994 This organization seeks to improve the judicial system in drug cases by using a combination of judicial monitoring and effective treatment to compel drug offenders to change their lives.  Data shows that locking someone up for years will not cure his or her addiction. It’s hardly news that almost all users return to their habit after release, creating a revolving door of incarceration.
The Drug Court reviews each offender’s case and develops a program to break addiction in a very controlled environment. Individuals are kept in treatment long enough for it to work, while supervising them closely. For a minimum term of one year, participants receive intensive treatment and other services they require to get and stay clean and sober. They are accountable to the Drug Court judge for meeting their obligations to the court, society, themselves and their families. They are regularly and randomly tested for drug use and required to appear in court frequently so that the judge may review their progress and are rewarded for doing well or sanctioned when they do not live up to their obligations. Data shows that seventy-five percent of graduates never return to the justice prison. The benefits of saving lives and reuniting families are incalculable.
The Drug Court cost savings per client ranges from $4,000 to $12,000. These cost savings reflect reduced prison costs, reduced revolving-door arrests and trials, and reduced victimization.
There are 1.2 million drug-addicted people behind bars. Using Drug Courts is a way of ending their addiction and giving them and their families a new and sober life.
For more information of drug Courts log on to www.nadcp.org