VAN BUREN — Carter County’s new drug court program is one step closer to becoming a reality with its first applicants now in residential treatment.
“Right now, we’ve got five applicants, and of the five that we have interviewed and anticipate accepting in the program … I’ve already ordered four into residential treatment to complete before they begin the program,” explained Associate Circuit Judge Steve Lynxwiler.
Any team member, according to Carter County Sheriff Rick Stephens, can recommend someone for the program.
“It could be the prosecutor, it could be the sheriff, it could be one of the defense attorneys who feel it would be a good program to help the person recover from their potential addictions,” Stephens said.
Team members have received several more referrals, Lynxwiler said, but spots are limited due to funding restraints.
The 37th Judicial Circuit received $56,000 in funding for its drug court programs in Carter, Shannon, Oregon and Howell counties, Lynxwiler said.
To be eligible for drug court, Lynxwiler said, the person has to have entered a guilty plea on a criminal charge.
“They have to have a substance abuse problem and can’t have a history of violence or be charged with any weapons offenses,” Lynxwiler said.
Drug court, he said, is not in lieu of probation, but can be a condition of probation.
Treatment and employment are among the criteria participants have to follow as part of the program.
“Because we are in Carter County, the resources are limited in working with treatment providers,” Lynxwiler said. “The treatment providers have been working really well with us” and have picked “up the tab on some of our treatment so far.”
The county also has a limited number of employers, he said.
Having a couple people participating in the program find jobs is going to be a challenge, Lynxwiler said.
“We’ve talked to some of the bigger employers around,” Lynxwiler said. “ … We’ve gotten a good response from the employers we’ve spoken with.
“ … They seem excited about being able to have employees they know are drug tested weekly, more often (than weekly) in the beginning.”
Not only are the employers excited, Lynxwiler said, they also are willing to let the participants off work to attend drug court and treatment.
Lynxwiler said the team members, who meet twice monthly, still have some “little issues” that need to be resolved.
One of those issues, he said, has to do with urine analysis collection.
Who and where samples will be taken and the associated costs have to be figured out yet, Lynxwiler said.
In preparing to set up Carter County’s program, Stephens said, team members visited other drug courts throughout the state to observe and learn the process.
“There has been a great deal of work involved in developing the program to meet our local needs,” Stephens said. “I am very excited about the positive ramifications and potential to bring treatment to individuals and equip them to overcome and become useful members of society.”
Both Stephens and Lynxwiler believe in the benefits of a drug court program.
“I think it is going to be extremely beneficial for Carter County” and will create “an avenue by which people with substance abuse problems are afforded the resources to recover while still being held accountable for their actions,” said Stephens.
The program, he said, also will be beneficial as county officials “try to combat the drug epidemic in our area.”
Drug court team members “believe it is” a good thing for the county, Lynxwiler said.
“We know from statistics that treatment courts work,” said Lynxwiler, who indicated the program is very important to him.
“You can remove somebody from society and incarcerate them,” Lynxwiler said. “They’re not going to be kept very long.
“They’re released back into society with very little training, very few skills and virtually nothing has been done to address their problem.”
The program’s goal, he said, is to “not just deal with the addiction issues, but to deal with our participants’ issues as a whole.”
Some people, Lynxwiler said, use drugs after getting kicked out of their house and having no place to go.
“Some people use because they are having issues at home; some people use because they can’t find a job,” he said. “We’re doing our best to provide treatment and assistance in all of these issues.”
Team members, Lynxwiler said, also understand people are going to mess up.
“That’s why we have sanctions built in the program,” he said.
Those sanctions range from writing an essay to community service or jail time, as well as termination from the program if “they keep screwing up,” Lynxwiler said.
“It’s my intention that when a person completes our drug court program, that if they have entered guilty pleas in front of me, I will allow them to withdraw their plea of guilty, so this will be removed from their record,” Lynxwiler said.
That, he said, will happen if the person is “doing well and has had no screw ups” during a period of time after completing the program.