Drug court set to help addicts
“We are fighting a war on drugs — not because it is winnable, but because it is fundable,” was one of the points made by Judge David Ault at this year’s Red Ribbon Community Leaders breakfast. This comment was made during his presentation on the role that drug courts can play in changing the way individuals involved in criminal activity and substance abuse are treated within the criminal justice system. “No addict can be punished out of their addiction,” Ault said.
Judge Ault was the keynote speaker at this year’s breakfast, which took place this past Tuesday. Over 40 members of the AHEAD Coalition, which sponsors the breakfast, and community members at large were present. The breakfast is an annual event during Red Ribbon Week to call attention to the drug prevention activities in Montgomery County. Red Ribbon Week, however, is a national event that began over a decade ago. The last week of October is set aside to recognize drug prevention and education efforts all across the United States. It is a commemorative event designed to honor DEA Agent Enrique Camarena who was killed in a drug investigation.
Ault described how he has witnessed the role of drugs change over his 20 years on the bench. In the early 1990s, he stated he had about 50 felony cases per year that mostly involved alcohol. By the year 2000, that number had doubled to 100 cases and more and more of them involved drugs. So far in 2011, he has processed over 200 cases and many of those involved multiple drugs and habitual offenders.
According to Ault, the drug court movement began in the late 1990s in a Florida courtroom where judges, prosecutors, and treatment providers tried to find a way to provide enhanced access to long term treatment for addicts while keeping them in the community as much as safely possible. Now, there are over 2,500 drug courts in the United States and 30 in Indiana.
For the past four years, Ault has led a collaborative team with representatives from the prosecutor’s office, public defender’s office, probation and court services departments, and treatment providers to develop a drug court model for use in Montgomery County. It has received a provisional certification from the Indiana Judicial Center and about three months ago, all the work paid off as the local program accepted its first participants.
The Montgomery County Drug Court has a specific list of eligibility criteria, which include: Individual must be a Montgomery County resident; Charges can include misdemeanor or felony charges related to drug possession or attempted possession (cannot be a Class A felony or a violent felony); No charges of drug dealing or manufacturing; and Individual must agree to guidelines of program, which include weekly court reviews, regular drug screens, and on-going employment.
Drug Court participants also have to agree to a two-year commitment in the program, which will help, see him/her through the ups and downs of addiction treatment. Participants work closely with case managers and treatment staff to help overcome substance issues as well as any other barriers that may be harming their ability to remain sober.
“The Drug Court approach makes it impossible for them to fail,” Ault said. “Despite their best efforts.”
According to Ault, the drug court model has the highest success rate of any program designed to help individuals with drug/alcohol addictions that are engaged in criminal activity. He cited achievements such as reductions in recidivism rates and tax payer expenses, fewer substance-related trips to the emergency rooms, fewer children removed from their parents, and a decrease in the amount of property loss as benefits that communities with drug courts have experienced.
“We ask that you show up, be honest, and work hard,” Ault said. In two years, he added, he hopes to bring the first round of program graduates back to the Red Ribbon breakfast to celebrate their success.
Jennifer Shook is the Coalition Coordinator for Advocates Helping to Educate Against Drugs. Her column appears Fridays in the Journal Review.
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