Saturday, July 5, 2008

Adult Drug Court aims to help addicts kick habit and stay home with families

Clara Garcia News-Bulletin Staff Writer; cgarcia@news-bulletin.com

In an effort to change lives and hopefully cure addictions, the 13th Judicial District Court in Valencia County is beginning a new Adult Drug Court program.

The program is designed to help those who have a drug addiction deal with their problem while being closely monitored by a team of judicial, probation and clinical professionals. While the idea of adult drug courts is not new to New Mexico, it's a first in Valencia County.

District Judge William Sanchez, who is the drug court judge, said he's wanted to implement the program for a number of years, but it wasn't until recently that it finally became feasible.

"One of the reasons why I didn't push forward with this until now was because of limited office space," Sanchez said. "Now, with the new courthouse and additional space to house personnel, we put in for it during the last legislative session. And through the great help from Sen. Michael Sanchez and also help from (Reps.) Elias Barela and Andrew Barreras, we were able to secure the funds for the implementation of Adult Drug Court."

With $211,000 in state appropriations, the court is now able to pay staff, including Program Manager Donald Garley and the probation officer, Jason Peña. With the remaining money available, the program will provide services such as counseling, drug testing and staff training.

"The Adult Drug Court is a program in which people addicted to drugs are brought into court as an alternative to incarceration," Sanchez explained. "These are people who need help, who have addictions that's impacting their families and impacting them individually. This is an opportunity for us to give back to the community, to give back to those individuals and those families and look toward resolving the problem rather than incarcerating (them) and filling up our prisons."

Those chosen to participate in the new Adult Drug Court first have to meet certain criteria. While the drug court team is not opposed to allowing first-time offenders into the program, they're focusing their efforts on second-time offenders who they say have already been through the court process before.

First of all, participants have to be non-violent defendants and have to be willing to participate in the program.

"If they have a superficial desire to be in the program just to avoid incarceration, that's not the type of individual that we want," Sanchez said. "We want someone who truly wants to seek out the service and counseling and try to abstain and cure this problem they have with addiction."

The process begins with referrals, mostly from defense attorneys who are looking for an alternative to incarceration, or from the probation office.

Peña said there is an assessment process that each candidate goes through that involves him, Sanchez and Garley. They decide if specific individuals qualify, what their drug habits are, and whether they believe the person is a drug trafficker.

"Most of the time, we're not going to want to involve traffickers — we're going to want to involve substance abusers," Peña said. "First-time offenders are possible candidates, but we're looking more toward second-time offenders — people who have already been through the process and are looking for an opportunity to do away with his or her drug habit."

Sanchez said a lot of first-time offenders do well with the oversight of "regular" probation. He says second-time offenders need that extra supervision and counseling that the Adult Drug Court program provides.

During the assessment process, if the candidates are truthful with the drug court team, they can figure out how long they've been using. That's where the assessment stage comes in so that they can determine whether they're right for the program.

Those who are chosen to participate in the year-long program are required to complete four 12-week phases before graduating. Garley explained that not only is it essential for the participants to accomplish the required phases, but they also have to fulfill certain life-skill obligations while in the program.

"They have to have employment, and if they're not employed, they'll have to do community service," Garley said. "They also have to be working at a GED program, and we'd even allow them not to work as long as they're working toward a GED or a degree."

During the first phase of the Adult Drug Court program, participants are required to drug test three times a week, attend counseling twice a week and join Alcoholics Anonymous or Narcotics Anonymous. They'll also go before Judge Sanchez once a week so he can hear about the client's progress.

The second phase is similar to the first, Garley said, and if they fail any of the conditions of the program, they get pushed back to the middle of the previous phase.

During the third phase, participants will continue to get drug tested three times a week, counseling will drop to once a week and visits to the judge will reduce to every other week.

In the fourth phase of the program, clients will go to counseling, be tested for drugs once a week and will be required to appear in front of the judge once a month.

"In the fourth phase, we give them a little more freedom; we're trying to phase them out so they can get back to a normal schedule," Peña said.

Sanchez said if clients in the program violate any conditions of the program, such as receiving a positive drug test, the program manager and probation officer could recommend an immediate sanction for incarceration for 24 or 48 hours. And if they continue to test positive, they could be removed from the program.

"That's the purpose of the close supervision during phase one, because that's the most difficult period of time for all of the drug addicts is the absence of drugs," Sanchez said. "They have to recognize that this is a privilege for them to be in this program because we're trying to reach out to them and their families. And if they are not compliant, then they're not suited for the program, and there is enough of a clientele in Valencia County that we can reach out to those that are willing to participate and willing to address their drug addiction."

Peña agreed, saying that the Adult Drug Court is an opportunity to reach individuals and for them to understand that by entering into drug court program, they get to keep the responsibility of what they do on a daily basis.

"They're still responsible for their lives and, in essence, in control of their lives," said Peña. "If they're incarcerated, they're giving up 95 to 99 percent of their rights. They're going to be told what to do on a daily basis — when to wake up, when to eat, when to go outside. Through the drug court, we give them the opportunity to wake up every day and choose not to do drugs."

Sanchez said the drug court team is hoping to screen and accept anywhere between six and a dozen people within the next few weeks. The target number of clients for the program by next July would be somewhere between 25 and 35 people.

"Depending on the manageability of the program, we'll probably be looking at expansion of the program and looking at additional probation officers, monitors and support staff," Sanchez said. "If there's a need, that's something I'd like to see.

"It's an alternative to incarceration, and it's an opportunity to remain with their families. Drugs tear up the community; it adds to the crime in our community because people have to feed their habits. If we can keep these people from using drugs, then they don't have to go out and commit crimes to support their habits."

It'll be a tough program. "We're not going to be holding anybody's hands around here. We're going to keep a close eye on them," Peña added. "They're not going to be incarcerated, they're going to have an opportunity to do some of the things they want to do, and if they opt to do drugs while in the program, there are consequences."

Garley said drug court clients do have the opportunity to go into in-patient treatment and can then return to the program.

"We're looking for these people to be successful," he said. "We know that some won't, and they'll test positive and they'll be late for their counseling, but we want success and we'll work toward that."

The Adult Drug Court program will be contracting with at least two providers, Forensic Behavioral Health Services and La Buena Vida, for counseling services.

They are also looking for community involvement from people who are interested and a have a passion for this type of program to sit on an advisory board. Along with Sanchez, Garley and Peña, the board will be made up of a representative of law enforcement, someone from the district attorney's office and a community member.

Anyone interested in participating as a member of the advisory board is asked to contact Donald Garley at 865-2408.

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