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Drug Court pulls in multiple resources to tackle problemWhen you’ve got a big problem, you need a big solution if you’re going to successfully tackle it. In Brown, Blue Earth and Watonwan Counties – as well as in over 1,600 other counties across the United States – the solution to rising drug use and rising corrections costs has been the introduction of Drug Court. The scope of the program spans the judicial system, social services, law enforcement, treatment providers and probation officers. “This program is successful because of the collaboration of all those parts,” said James Johnson Jr. “JJ”, Substance Abuse Services Coordinator at New Ulm Medical Center. NUMC’s substance abuse services have been contracted by all three of these counties to provide the treatment services for their Drug Courts. The collaboration doesn’t end with the Drug Court itself, Johnson stresses. “We are forging community partnerships, too, getting businesses, service organizations and families involved. This helps our participants to be successful getting back into the community by getting jobs, finishing school, volunteering in the community,” Johnson said. For most of the participants, if they weren’t in Drug Court, they’d be in prison, said Medical Center Behavioral Health Manager Steve Schneider. Once a person is accepted into Drug Court, they appear before the judge with the whole team – prosecutor, public defender, probation officer, law enforcement and treatment provider. They see the judge every week for the first six months, and they have to have appropriate employment. They must also pay fines and fees to participate in Drug Court. The expectations include attending treatment – either inpatient or outpatient – and submitting to multiple random urinalysis tests throughout the week to make sure they are not using drugs or alcohol. The participants can be called upon any time of the day or night to perform the UA testing. Participants also have curfews and they have night checks by the police department, probation and sheriff’s department, which might be in addition to the random UAs. Participants are required to be in an outpatient treatment program for 18 months, Johnson said, which is much longer than the typical treatment episodes, which are usually about 60 days. “The philosophy for treatment for Drug Court participants is not any different than any other substance abuse treatment program – we help them understand addiction, help them find a support system and resources in the community,” Johnson said. “We work very hard on helping them understand what in their lifestyle has led them to ongoing use and help them make changes to have continuing success.” “There are huge expectations put on the Drug Court participants,” Schneider said. “There are people who would actually rather do jail time than go through the Drug Court program because it is so rigorous.” Participants are given incentives or sanctions based on their progress or lack of progress. Sanctions could include community service, jail time, or writing papers. Incentives could be gas cards, tickets to a movie theater, a fruit basket or a discount on their fees for Drug Court. The Blue Earth County program has just completed its second year, Watonwan County’s program is 18 months old and the Brown County program just started at the beginning of 2007. Although the Drug Court program is labor intensive and costly to begin with, in the long-term the program is significantly less costly than incarceration. “Our results look really good for Blue Earth County,” Johnson said. “Compared to the rest of the country, our relapse rates are significantly lower, completion rates are significantly higher, and our re-arrest rate is almost zero.” In addition to the fact that the entire program is based on the “team” approach, all members of the team (judges, probation officers, law enforcement, treatment providers, etc) are required to attend the same Drug Court training. “The training helps eliminate biases and assumptions. It helps everyone move forward and all get on the same page,” Johnson said. “The initial training is three sessions that are each three days in different locations across the country. It requires a huge commitment by all the players.” The Brown County Drug Court program currently has 11 participants, Watonwan County has 7 participants and Blue Earth County has about 30 participants. |
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New Ulm Medical Center
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