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How Maine's drug courts work and how well

Bangor Daily News - 12/16/2019

Dec. 16--Drug courts have spread across the country since the first one debuted in Miami-Dade County, Florida, 30 years ago. They've gained additional support in recent years as a way to combat an opioid crisis that has killed about one Mainer a day.

But in Maine, data on the effectiveness of drug courts are limited. The state does not formally track the long-term outcomes of those who go through the program. And while a 2016 analysis of Maine's drug courts found graduates were less likely to reoffend than their jailed counterparts, it didn't answer some questions, including why some participants succeeded over others.

Maine's first drug-treatment court debuted in 1998 in Portland, and it got off the ground with the help of then-Cumberland County District Attorney Stephanie Anderson and Roland Cole, the chief Superior Court judge in Maine who is retiring this month after 38 years on the bench.

Today, there are six of them in Maine -- in York, Cumberland, Androscoggin, Penobscot, Hancock and Washington counties. There are two other "treatment courts" in Kennebec County -- for veterans and adults with co-occurring substance use disorders and mental illness.

The drug courts are an alternative to jail for offenders with a substance use disorder who are considered likely to reoffend because of their addiction. The courts, overseen by a judge, combine treatment with various measures aimed at holding participants accountable when they violate the program's requirements.

They don't accept everybody.

Participants are subjected to random drug tests, are expected to participate in treatment and regular court check-ins with their defense attorneys and judges, and they can face a range of sanctions -- from a requirement to write a reflective essay to jail time -- for violating drug court rules. They are expected to work or attend school while they're going through drug court.

With the program modeled on national guidelines and based on social science research, drug court participants advance through five phases of treatment and supervision -- each with less intensive requirements, but more personal accountability, than the last. The fastest someone can complete all five is in just over a year. Between 50 percent and 60 percent of people admitted each year -- about 50 people statewide -- are expected to graduate.

A report submitted to the Legislature's Judiciary Committee each year documents the number of people who participated in the program the previous year, but it does not track long-term recidivism rates for graduates.

According to the 2016 analysis, 16 percent of graduates reoffend in the 18 months after graduating from drug court. That compares with 32 percent for those who applied but were not admitted to drug court and a 49 percent recidivism rate for those admitted but expelled from the program.

Maine's court system estimates that the state sees $1.87 in savings for every dollar it spends on drug-treatment courts.

Last year, 265 people participated in the treatment courts in Maine, 11 more than in 2017.

The concept is not without criticism. Critics, such as the American Civil Liberties Union of Maine, say that providing a therapeutic response to addiction, a disease, is inherently in conflict with a program that uses a carrot-and-stick approach to helping people recover.

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(c)2019 the Bangor Daily News (Bangor, Maine)

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