drug-testing-kit

PROCESS BEGINS FOR ADULT DRUG COURT

Law enforcement authorities and community advocates met last night to begin the process of establishing adult drug courts in Putnam and DeKalb counties.

Nearly 40 people, including criminal court judges John Hudson, Lillian Sells, and Leon Burns, District Attorney General Bill Gibson, county commissioner Johnnie Wheeler, Sheriff David Andrews and Cookeville and Algood police chiefs Bob Terry and Jim Eldridge as well as representatives from Tennessee Tech and UT and advocacy groups, met to hear Nashville Judge Seth Norman describe the benefits that an adult drug court could bring to the Upper Cumberland.

After the meeting individuals signed up to help organize and fund the court that could be up and running as soon as next fall.

An adult drug court handles cases involving non-violent substance-abusing offenders through comprehensive supervision, drug testing, treatment services and immediate sanctions and incentives.

A team of "interveners" including judges, prosecutors, defense counsel, correctional personal, and educational and vocational experts and others work with the offender, forcing him or her to deal with his or her substance abuse problem.

Norman established the first drug court in Nashville nine years ago in 1996.  The program has proven so successful that communities in other areas of the nation have used it as a pattern to form their own drug courts.

Norman stressed the financial benefits to communities that support a drug court as well as the health benefits to drug users, and therefore to the communities in which they live.

"I got tired of seeing the same individuals coming through the door time after time," Norman said about the period before the drug court was established.

"But I realized that people don't grow up wanting to be addicts.  They're looking for a way out even when they seem most addicted," he said.

"Eventually they will get tired of the drug use and be ready to quit.  But if we don't treat them early on and just keep warehousing them, then by the time they're ready to quit on their own they will be 50 or 60 years old and when they're released from prison they will be completely dependent on society," he said.

"It's been estimated that the cost to society to support an individual from the time he's 50 until he dies is about $250,000," Judge Norman said.

According to the judge, it costs at least $51 a day to house a drug addicted prisoner in Tennessee.

But those prisoners who sign up for the drug program are required to work and pay about 85 percent of their prison related costs.

"If they're not part of a drug court, they'll pay only about three percent," he said.

"Not everyone will be cured," he said.  "But we can cut down on the costs."

In Putnam County the number one substance abused is alcohol, second is methamphetamine, the third is opiates and the fourth is cocaine.

Norman said in the beginning there would probably be only a 50-60 percent success rate with a new drug court.

"In the first two or three months there will be sharp drop-out rate, but those who stay after that will be ready to change."

In the judge's court in Nashville, the recidivism rate is only 25 percent.

"It's a 'tough love' program.  Once they find that out they respond," Norman said.

The 'tough' part of the program requires random drug testing three times at week - often where a participant is called by phone and given a predetermined amount of time to get to the testing station.

The "love" part is the positive feedback the participants receive from the court team members.

Norman said that locking up drug users only enhances their craving for drugs.

"70 percent who go to prison with an addiction will end up repeating their addiction and be back in jail within three years," he said.

When participants finish Norman's drug program, "They will all have jobs, they will all have drivers' licenses, they will be able to vote, they will have regained their children, and they will be paying taxes," he said.

No violent prisoners are permitted in the program, but many of the participants have regularly committed smaller crimes.

"Most are burglars or shop lifters looking for money for their habit.

"I once took a poll in my court of how many crimes the drug inmates had committed a year that had nothing to do with drug crimes.  The average turned out to be 86.  Think how much police, clerk, jail and legal work is involved for each inmate.  It's a staggering number," Norman said.

The judge was so sure the program would be successful in 1996 that he talked the metro government into giving him two or three old buildings in Nashville that the drug court participants cleaned up and rehabbed.

"We have 100 beds in the residential program -- 60 for men and 40 for women.

"Most drug programs only give participants a 14-day program.  We know that's not enough," the judge said.

Both Putnam County and DeKalb County are starting the process of setting up drug courts.  A three year federal grant has been applied for that should provide about $450,000 for start up costs although some people last night discussed the possibility of beginning with a smaller pilot program.

Judge Norman is the founder and presiding judge of the Davidson County Drug Court.  In 2003, the Tennessee Association of Drug Court Professionals recognized him as the "Pioneer of Tennessee Drug Courts" for his exhaustive efforts in making Drug Courts a crucial and instrumental part of Tennessee's Criminal Justice System.