I have always had my doubts about the broader effectiveness of drug courts. I know some programs work, but I can’t disagree with some of what Margret Dooley-Sammuli and the Drug Policy Alliance says about the larger picture.
Washington, D.C. –
At two briefings on Capitol Hill today, the Drug Policy Alliance released a groundbreaking new report, Drug Courts are Not the Answer: Toward a Health-Centered Approach to Drug Use (www.drugpolicy.org/drugcourts <http://www.drugpolicy.org/drugcourts> ), which finds that drug courts have not demonstrated cost savings, reduced incarceration, or improved public safety; leave many people worse off for trying; and have actually made the criminal justice system more punitive toward addiction – not less.
“The drug court phenomenon is, in large part, a case of good intentions being mistaken for a good idea,” said Margaret Dooley-Sammuli, deputy state director in Southern California for the Drug Policy Alliance, who contributed to the report. “Drug courts have helped many people, but they have also failed many others, focused resources on people who could be better treated outside the criminal justice system and in some cases even led to increased incarceration. As long as they focus on people whose only crime is their health condition, drug courts will be part of the problem – not the solution – created by drug war policies.”
“Even if drug courts were able to take in all 1.4 million people arrested for just drug possession each year, over 500,000 to 1 million people would be kicked out and sentenced conventionally,” Dooley-Sammuli added.
“Far from being a cure for the systemic problems of mass drug arrests and incarceration, drug courts are not even a stopgap,” said Daniel Abrahamson, Drug Policy Alliance’s Director of Legal Affairs, who also contributed to the report. “Drug courts have actually helped to increase, not decrease, the criminal justice entanglement of people who struggle with drugs and have failed to provide quality treatment. Only sentencing reform and expanded investment in health approaches to drug use will stem the flow of drug arrests and incarceration. The feel-good nature of drug courts hasn’t translated into results. U.S. drug policy must be based not on good intentions, but on robust, reliable research.”
DadOnFire 
11 comments
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March 23, 2011 at 5:10 am
Tom M.
I completely agree. Nothing provides results like long term treatment programs run well. Jails hold the body, but without medication and time to heal the mind, the brain does not clear and the addict does not move forward. We study so many things, why not 1,000 addicts who do time in jail versus placed in long term care?
March 23, 2011 at 9:33 am
susan lea
At first I thought the Drug Court was a wonderful orientation at the courthouse and then met with her attorney to determine if this was an option for her instead of incarceration.
As we learned more about it we discovered it would be almost impossible for her to meet the requirements of meetings and outpatient treatment. Transportation every day would have been very difficult. She would have had trouble paying for the program. She wouldn’t have been able to work and still meet the requirements so she had no way to support herself. It seemed it was set up for failure.
I realize that Drug Court can’t be customized to each person who’s trying to avoid jail. But it seemed only a small percentage of people would have been able to follow the program and complete it successfully. It would have kept my daughter off drugs but I don’t think it would have kept her from being incarcerated at some point.
March 23, 2011 at 10:23 am
madyson007
I could not agree more… Even our lawyer recommended that J not pursue drug court as an option because of the lawyers experience with his other clients. He felt it was almost impossible to live up to some of the standards demanded by Drug Court.
An addict who has lost his license is either at the mercy of public transportation or the kindness of others driving them. NEITHER is reliable or feasible for many. The hard core line drawn in drug court started off with the best intentions BUT for most addicts it is not possible for them to live up to with any kind of success. Being late 5 minutes go directly to jail do not pass go. Addicts who are trying to get there lives together with out any support are doomed to failure before they even start. This often is not even about testing positive for drugs…it can be for not having money to get a cab to take you to the bus that drives you to the train that will take you to probation??? Newly clean addicts have trouble organizing a trip to the grocery store.
I just wanted to bring up that aspect of it because it is also is quite obvious that many of these addicts also have no access to any kind of treatment or do not qualify. NA/AA is not the clear answer for all…I know there are many that will disagree with me but this is my opinion on the subject.
March 23, 2011 at 12:37 pm
Bill Ford
Unfortunately, ultra tough love ( or easy hate ) legislative conservatives and voters alike will expect that people with serious addictions meet an impossible protocol that even they, themselves couldn’t meet given similar circumstances. My biggest frustration, however, is that it was never offered to my family member and I think that situation is the most common one. One prosecutor, that I spoke with said if an addict is arrested for a crime other than use of the drug, the option is not offered. We’ll most are not arrested for the use, but moreover for the behavior resulting from the use. So, that just puts the program out of reach. Secondly, the diversion programs, rehab, out patient IOP or whatever is not funded and the addicts are usually broke. Can’t overcome that one….so yes, it is very tough, to say the least, for an addict to benefit from drug court.
March 23, 2011 at 7:45 pm
Tom at Recovery Helpdesk
Drug courts are better than just sending people to jail. And they do help many people. My concerns are that:
1. Defendants lose much of the protection of legal representation because the public defender becomes part of the “team” and not just the defendant’s legal advocate.
2. The promise of drug court lures many defendants into surrendering their legal rights.
3. Many defendants have an unrealistic understanding of their likelihood of success in drug court.
4. Decisions about treatment are made by lawyers and judges rather than treatment professionals and treatment consumers.
5. Drug courts cost money diverting funding away from actual drug treatment.
6. We should be making effective voluntary treatment available on demand before we put money into coerced treatment (why force treatment when many of the same people have been begging for treatment and couldn’t get it).
7. Drug courts often make failures out of successes by discharging and incarcerating people who are not committing new crimes and who are in recovery –just because they are not able to jump through every hoop the drug court demands.
8. Drug courts pretty good at offering structure to people who are fully capable but lack motivation to change. Yet there are non-coercive ways to cultivate motivation to change, and coerced treatment is in many ways the realm of lazy and unskilled treatment providers. The bigger problem though is that addiction is very complex. And drug courts are less good at complex addiction. They cause those with complex addiction real harm. In those cases they often delay recovery and increase risk of incarceration.
9. Especially in the current economic climate, drug treatment providers tend to follow the money. As a result, many treatment providers are becoming increasingly enmeshed in the criminal justice system. Dual roles cause serious ethical problems and damage the ability of treatment consumers to access safe, confidential and client-centered treatment.
March 26, 2011 at 7:31 pm
Barbara
My son was offered Drug Court when he was just 18 years old. We both knew there was NO WAY he would be able to comply with such rigorous requirements. Luckily in his case there is a special program here called Recovery Court and Opportunity Court. Its for dually diagnosed. Its much more do-able, although he has still failed.
I was going to write about this on my blog but changed my mind.
April 23, 2011 at 4:14 am
Gerald
http://www.nadcp.org/NADCP%20Releases%20Initial%20Response%20to%20DPA%20and%20JPI%20Reports
April 23, 2011 at 9:25 am
Bill Ford
I respect the link and I do hope drug courts can eventually make a big difference, but it tempts me to think that drug courts have had overwhelming success and they have not. There are more addicts on the streets than ever. Addiction is not a moral issue; it is a medical one. The way we as a nation deal with addiction and mental illness is in a moral black hole. The scientific community of addiction treatment professionals can barely make a difference. I doubt if the families of jailed addicts can tough out their faith for drug courts which are part of the same system that criminalizes and jails addicts. Of course some get through drug court. The link you sent is good to read, but the facts are this. America is suffering from an addiction epidemic and the future most addicts on the streets have, is still “jails, institutions or death”. The problem is the “institutions” are not even there anymore. State budgets have cut out all but the severely mentally ill. Another troubling issue is that drug courts assume an addict is curable. If a drug court candidate slips, they go to jail. Addicts slip constantly. How does a heroin or meth addict follow a court directive? They need real treatment. Lastly, most addicts are not eligible for drug court becuase of their charges being something other than “use” If all addicts were eligible for drug court, the cost would not be covered anyway. It would be too high. We have to would have to overhaul the entire legal and penal system to handle treatment on that scale.
May 29, 2011 at 5:51 pm
msjo101
My experience with drug court is in my blog about heroin.
Drug court has done nothing to help my son. He has had a total of FOUR chances to complete a 9 month drug program.
Each courtdate, he is worse physically and mentally. I wrote a blog about the court system being insane.
My son at the last court appearance (THIS time behind the door because he was arrested) was having severe withdrawels, vomiting etc and the judge told him You have NINE more months to finish or els…
I was shocked! I had my paperwork to submit showing he is on disability for a mental illness since age 14! and they would not let me show my paperwork to the judge…
He is now homeless and getting his drugs from the candyman doctor and the pill mill pharmacies!
If someone would like to team up with me, please contact me I am on a mission to stop Candyman Doctors and Pill Mill Pharmacies.
Any help is welcome!
One Mad Mother2011
aka
MsJo101
May 29, 2011 at 5:52 pm
msjo101
p.s.
I am in Los Angeles County.
One Mad Mother2011
March 4, 2012 at 12:20 pm
wouldyoueatinabox
I am in a drug court program. When my attorney told me the DA would defer my possession felony for drug court i took the deal. All i knew is that i was behind bars and wanted out. I didnt pay attention to the paper i signed that waived my right to due process. i thought i was signing for freedom, little did i know. Now 10 months later ive been totally sober and met all requirements. One week the drug testing agency reported me for two missed tests. My dog danny (miniature pincher) died of renal failure. and i started school. Needless to say i forgot to write down my homework for their worthless drug class.
its been two and a half months since that week and they still havent moved me to my next phase. forgetting my homework essentially added two months to my probation. (i figured out that the testing agency was at fault for those to misses, but it took three days and three call backs to do this.) To top it off the probation officer/wannabe counselor who got me sanctioned for forgetting my homework lied to the drug court team in an effort to make sure i got a sanction for getting kicked out of her group. she also looks and smells like a rodent.
I can’t find gainful employment due to the restrictions of drug court, and im having to barrow money just to get by. I WONT borrow money to pay for their court fines or drug tests. this will keep me in longer inevitably.
To sum it up the constant monitoring is of benefit to sobriety. However what was at first a solution is now a hinderance on my entire life. What happens when you dont trust the very court your supposed to be accountable to?