San Diego’s Drug Courts Help in the Battle Against Addiction

Drug addiction takes a terrible toll on the addicts, their families, and society at large. The criminal courts have been stretched beyond the breaking point, in large part because drug addicts are clogging up the system. There are two possible solutions for this problem: more incarceration or more treatment to break the grip that drugs have over so many people. San Diego’s drug courts are an attempt at being part of the solution.

The San Diego Association of Governments (SANDAG), has found that for people who were arrested and jailed in the county during 2014, 53% of the women and 40% of the men tested positive for methamphetamine, or meth. Heroin and other opiates had been used by fewer than 20% of those arrested, but the recent spike in heroin use has likely pushed that figure higher. The point to remember is that many criminal defendants–if not the majority of them–are in trouble with the law because they are feeding a drug addiction.

According to the U.S. Attorney for San Diego, drug addiction is “a community problem…that we all need to come together and put resources toward.” To that end, San Diego offers five Drug Courts — four for adult offenders and another for juveniles–with the stated mission of improving lives that have been impacted by drug addiction, and increasing public safety by reducing the amount and frequency of drug related crimes. Since the time of their inception during the late 20th Century, San Diego’s Drug Courts have made a difference in the lives of many former addicts, putting them on a path toward becoming productive citizens once again.

Abraham Lincoln is quoted as saying that he destroyed his enemies when he made them his friends. San Diego’s drug courts seek to “destroy” drug users who, in many cases, have been using for several years. By turning drug users into clean and sober individuals instead, drug courts can help to break the destructive and seemingly never-ending cycle of addiction and incarceration.    

To carry out its mission, the drug court program includes frequent drug testing, judicial supervision, counseling, educational and vocational training opportunities, and a range of court-imposed sanctions and incentives. The judge in the program supervises drug court participants instead of placing the defendants into unsupervised probation programs. This “hands-on” approach is designed to achieve results above and beyond more conventional methods of incarceration. Those who fail a drug test while participating in the program are sent to jail, and repeated failures can mean a reimposition of the original jail sentence.

In order to be accepted into the Drug Court program, an offender must be facing a felony charge. Recent funding restrictions have closed off the program to those with misdemeanor charges against them, in order to focus on felons, who are in the greatest need for this type of intervention. Others who are not eligible to participate in the Drug Court program include offenders charged with violent offenses, sex crimes, and the manufacture of illegal substances. Offenders who are charged with a violent offense, or those who have prior convictions for committing a violent crime, are likewise not eligible to take part in the program.

Participants are required to attend 12-step self-help meetings, secure a steady job, and attend individual counseling sessions. The oversight of the court is described as being “rigorous,” and entails weekly status meetings with the Drug Court team. A report of the participant’s progress through the program is prepared and given to the judge prior to each hearing.

The Court may increase the frequency of drug testing for a participant, order increased attendance or participation as a requirement for remaining within the program, or order additional jail time as a sanction. The final sanction is to terminate the defendant from participating in Drug Court entirely, essentially washing the court’s hands of the addict and his or her behavior. Although this is tantamount to admitting failure, at least in the terms of an individual participant in the program, the court also recognizes that some people simply cannot be helped.

Upon successful completion of the criminal drug court program, which is a minimum of 18 months, probation may be terminated, or drug charges may be dismissed altogether, upon the prosecutor’s recommendation to the court. A graduation ceremony is also held to honor those who successfully complete the program, to reintroduce them to family members and loved ones as clean and sober individuals, the type which they had not been for some time.

The results appear to be lasting, too, as county officials report that 90% of Drug Court graduates remain arrest-free for two years after they complete the program. In a state with one of the highest rates of recidivism in the country, where 73% of those released from prison either commit a crime or violate parole within the first year, these figures are evidence that the program makes a positive impact on the lives of those who complete it. This, in turn, reduces the toll that drug-related offenses take on society as a whole.

Significant resources are required for addressing the problem of addiction in a concerted way. And there is no guarantee of success, either during the period of active court supervision or after the program has been completed. The effort is made with the hope of rescuing individuals who may have resisted previous attempts to break their addictions. The potential payoff, as Lincoln once suggested, is people who have “destroyed” their harmful ways in favor of a more productive path within society.

If you are arrested and facing felony charges, the first order of business is to aggressively contest the charges in a court of law. If long-standing drug use or addiction should be at the root of the alleged criminal behavior, it is important to understand that participation and successful completion of the Drug Court program is an option, which can provide a vital opportunity to break an addiction once and for all. To learn more about your legal rights, contact the San Diego Law Office of Vikas Bajaj, APC today.