Saginaw County needs drug court
District Court judges were to meet today to talk about implementing a drug and alcohol court in Saginaw County. More than 30 other counties in Michigan, including Bay and Genesee counties, now operate drug or sobriety courts.
Saginaw County should too.
Treating addicts and alcoholics to control their disease is humane, and it's cost effective. Studies indicate that treatment courts reduce criminal recidivism. A five-year study of a drug court program in Lansing demonstrated a 13 percent repeat offender rate, compared to a 35 percent rate in a comparison group. For every $1 spent on a drug court, the National Drug Court Institute says, $10 are saved.
And treatment frees up more jail and prison space for violent offenders.
Nor do drug courts coddle addicts and drunken drivers. First-time or repeat drunken drivers, for instance, would face jail if they didn't follow through on court-ordered treatment. The first step: They must plead guilty. The courts then monitor addicts more closely through regular drug testing and require attendance at Alcoholics Anonymous or enrollment in other substance abuse treatment. The regimen requires drug and alcohol offenders to maintain contact with the court -- or it's to the hoosegow. Saginaw County judges are tapping into many of those resources already.
Legislation, which Gov. Jennifer M. Granholm signed last year, expanded Michigan's drug and sobriety courts. There are more than 50 now in operation. Furthermore, the federal government offers grants to implement them and train court officials. Saginaw County District Court Judge Darnell Jackson, a former state drug czar, said at least $450,000 is available to Saginaw County over three years for a treatment court. Saginaw County has a good basis from which to start a drug court; many of its components are already in place.
Keeping parents with children working, off public assistance and out of jail saves tax dollars. Offenders also are more likely to pay their fines and court fees -- including fees for tethers.
There's a saying among recovering alcoholics: Change happens when the pain of continuing using becomes greater than the pain of quitting. With the threat of jail hanging over an addict's head and regular drug testing, treatment has a better chance of taking hold.
Drug courts make sense. They help lower crime rates, avoid the higher costs of incarceration and keep families willing to work on their problems intact. Saginaw County should join the growing number of communities in the state and nationwide -- more than 1,200 -- with a treatment court.
<< Home