Drug Court changing lives for the better
Our opinion
November 13, 2005
Editorial, HeraldTimesOnline.com
Submitted to Gopopai.org by Linda Brady, District 7

One by one, they stepped up to the witness box. For each of them, Monroe Circuit Judge Kenneth Todd had a few words: some kind, some joking, some stern, but all caring.

He asked the participants in Wednesday morning's Monroe County Drug Court about their families, about their jobs, about their transportation issues, about how they were doing in the program in general. He offered encouragement to two who talked about the "blackness" they were feeling. He asked those two and others what he and his colleagues could do to help them overcome the addictions that landed them in his courtroom.

He told many of them to be selfish, because they needed to focus on themselves before they could help others. He told them to look forward.

"There's nothing we can change about yesterday," he said. "All we can do is deal with today because tomorrow is not here yet."

He sent three people to jail, because they had faltered. Two were told to report the next Friday afternoon; one, who had missed an appointment and made more excuses than a teenager caught in a lie, was sent immediately.

After all, the three basic rules of drug court are: Show Up. Work Hard. Be Honest.

Wednesday was a special day in the court for four participants. It was Commencement Day.

All four had the same message for the judge and everyone affiliated with the program: You saved my life. They were humble and thankful and wonderful representatives of how this program is a major asset to our community.

Statistics bear this out.

An independent accounting last August showed that it has reduced the jail population; there were 25 percent fewer commitments to the Department of Correction from drug court participants, compared to a control group of people facing similar charges.

It has reduced recidivism - repeating offenses, essentially - to 7.7 percent of the people in the program. Typically, 50 to 70 percent of people with drug or alcohol addictions are repeat offenders.

It has reduced drug and alcohol abuse. Nearly 70 percent of people who have started the program have graduated, meaning they have had at least one year of continuous sobriety.

But more than numbers on a page, it has helped many people reclaim their lives. Todd summed up what the program is about: "It's about the changes in people's lives."

Mark Livingston, one of Wednesday's graduates, talked about how he'd changed: "For the first time in my life, I can be an asset to this community, instead of a threat" (through drunken driving).

Turning threats into assets; moving alcoholics to sobriety; helping people overcome their demons and re-engage with their families and community. All of those things make Monroe County's 6-year-old drug court a marvelous program.

We should all be proud of it.