ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Tuesday, May 14, 1996 TAG: 9605140052
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: C-2 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: LAURENCE HAMMACK STAFF WRITER
The Roanoke Valley's drug court program has received a $200,000 federal grant to assist it in rehabilitating addicts through treatment instead of incarceration.
The drug court, the first of its kind in the state, has been in existence since September. After starting in Roanoke with state funding, it was expanded this year to include Roanoke County and Salem.
The federal money - part of $8.5 million in grants for drug courts awarded last week to 16 communities across the country - will be used to provide more vocational training, treatment and drug screening for the Roanoke Valley's program.
The drug court, which is restricted to drug users and small-time dealers, tries to reach addicts shortly after their arrests, when they are most inclined to acknowledge their drug problem and seek help.
After pleading guilty, offenders enter a yearlong program to receive drug testing, substance abuse treatment, education, counseling and other services at a day facility while reporting back to court at least once a week for a judge to monitor their progress.
If the participants complete the program successfully, the drug charge against them will be dropped. But if they continue to use drugs or get arrested on a subsequent charge, they could be kicked out of the program and sent to jail.
About 40 people have enrolled in Drug Court so far, according to John Rauck, head of the state probation and parole department in Roanoke, which runs the program. Organizers envision the program handling about 125 offenders when it reaches full capacity.
It is too early to determine how successful the program is, Regional Drug Prosecutor Dennis Nagel said. "The judges have shown that they will make every effort to help the drug addicts help themselves," Nagel said.
But for those who do not take advantage of the program, "the judges have also been willing to incarcerate those people for significant amounts of time," he said.
Since the nation's first drug court opened in Miami, there has been a 33 percent reduction in rearrests among its graduates compared with other offenders in that city, according to a study by the Justice Department's National Institute of Justice.
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