Former Prosecutor Tells Why Oregon's Drug Courts Work

This guest opinion is by Judge Robert Selander of Clackamas County Drug Court. Selander is president of the Oregon Association of Drug Court Professionals.

(CLACKAMAS) - When I was Curry County deputy district attorney in the early 1970s I sought long penitentiary sentences for most drug offenders. I believed prison was the ultimate sanction. I was wrong.

Practice has shown that putting people behind bars doesn't affect their drug use. For many offenders jail is a social club where old friends meet. Released addicts simply go back to their other friends, old neighborhoods and addictions.

Drug court is not an easy out. At the Clackamas County Drug Court, we require offenders to appear on time every week, go into treatment, submit to random drug testing, bring pay stubs to prove they're working, attend at least three 12-step meetings a week, not associate with users and get a GED or high school diploma.

Failure to follow any program rule will result in a sanction ranging from writing an essay to going to jail.

One woman in my court had successfully secured a job, regained custody of her kids and had met every other requirement -- but she believed she wasn't capable of passing the GED tests. When I told her time was running out, she finally took the tests -- and passed. Now, as a confident drug court graduate, she is enrolling in college.

Her story is anecdotal evidence of what the state Department of Human Services, following legislative direction to invest more money in proven practices, has just accepted as research-supported fact: Drug courts are effective in helping many non-violent offenders quit using drugs, stop committing crimes, get jobs and pay taxes.

Drug courts save money by reducing not only crime, but also the need for social services. The Clackamas County Adult Drug court has seen six women give birth to drug-free babies, saving taxpayers an estimated $1.5 million.

Sheriff's deputies who provide security in my courtroom initially come with an attitude that drug court is a liberal do-gooder idea. They observe me exchange hugs with successful participants or host an ice cream party if everyone remains clean and sober three weeks in a row. But after witnessing the change in people's lives, these officers change their minds. They see that offenders in drug court may risk more sanctions and spend more time in jail than if they were sentenced or on probation.

The best evidence that drug courts work is in the lives that are changed. One participant with multiple felony convictions, while participating in drug court, was working a fast-food job when her boss handed her the keys one evening and asked her to lock up after closing. "She knew my background," she told me, "and yet she gave me the key and promoted me to manager." This drug court graduate has now started a business, enrolled in college and was recently married.

With adequate treatment capacity and court staff, the Oregon drug courts could accommodate many more offenders and provide even more benefit to society. Drug court is a cost-efficient, crime reducing, life-changing program that works.

Robert Selander, Clackamas County Circuit judge, is president of the Oregon Association of Drug Court Professionals.

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Glenda July 31, 2010 6:12 pm (Pacific time)

My 19 year old daughter was a good kid who got caught up with a bad boyfriend who was a drug dealer.
Jan. 1, 2010 she started using heroin, since then the following has happened in her life.
1. She was kicked out of Portland Bible College for drugs.
2. Tried to kill herself twice.
3. Overdosed and almost died.
4. Lived in her drug dealers car.
5. Police picked her up twice in possession of heroin.
6. She was a drug informant for the police.
7. While high on heroin attacked her dad and grandpa.
I called the police and filed harassment just so she could be someplace safe for the night.

The DA decided to press charges and wanted her to go to 1 hour a week, anger management class for 13 months, and she could have no contact with her dad or grandpa for 13 months.

I spoke to the judge during an appearance hearing and told him that my daughter does not have an anger problem, but a drug addiction. I asked him to please release her into my care and allow me to take her to a 12 month treatment center. The judge agreed and court ordered my daughter to go to treatment.

Since then the DA has been very upset because she said this was not a drug case only a harassment charge, and the court order did not fit the crime.
I feel that the judge addressed the real issue which was what caused the harassment (DRUGS) not anger.
You can not ask a drug addict to go once a week for 13 months to an anger class and have no contact with family...that is only setting her up for failure..she is a drug addict.

DA is trying to over turn the judges decision and we go to court 8/9/10. The DA is going to ask for a warrant for my daughter to come back for a trail.

I wish someone could set up a drug court in Clackamas County. The judge did the right thing but the DA is taking it personal and even told me she was not on my side and that my daughter need to go to trial and faces charges.

My husband and dad were not even hurt during the brief attack. they are both over 6", strong men. I was desperate and called the police for help never dreaming that I would meet a DA that only wants another win under her belt. She is treating this case like a game that she wants to win instead of a life she could help save.

Anonymous August 1, 2010 10:56 am (Pacific time)

Are there 12 step programs required in jail? If not, should'nt there be? At least inmates that have had addiction problem can work on themselves and learn valuable coping skills for when they return to society. This at least would give the person a better chance to succeed, and save money for the court system in the long run.

Albert Marnell September 3, 2006 9:44 am (Pacific time)

Dear Lela, Aside from the fact that I know how the drug trade works in this country, who is really behind it and who benefits, I want to thank you again for showing compassion for those who are victims of a much bigger picture.

Albert Marnell September 3, 2006 7:28 am (Pacific time)

Watch on the internet only "The Truth and Lies About 9/11". Americans have to start seeing things the way they are not they way they were brainwashed to believe through various spoken and unspoken messages over a lifetime. The fact is that the largest drug trafficing in the United States is done by the C.I.A. Mike Ruppert an excommunicated Los Angeles police officer and investigator has been public with this and no one has paid much attention. His appearance on Nightline years ago was sabotaged by C.I.A. people at the last minute. Without the drug trade in the U.S. the whole economy would collapse and even though it does not have to be that way, this is the way that it is. Even the head of the New York Stock Exchange went to Columbia to appeal to the Drug Lords to invest their money in U.S. equities and the American markets. You can send out a thousand press releases on a very important and news breaking subject but if main stream media turns it's back because of fear of negative retribution or plain sophomoric incompetency, you will never hear of it. And no, the sale of heroin and cocaine in the United States is not done to fund covert operations. Watch the documentary. It has been hidden and ignored by people who feel they have something to loose.

Lela August 31, 2006 2:10 pm (Pacific time)

Judge Selander, what a wonderfull common sense approach to the problem, and it is working! If the people who think a program like Drug Court is a "do-gooder, liberal" thing, then they need to take a long hard look at their value system. For too long our legal system and our law makers have taken a hard approach to drug issues/ users and have forgotten the users/the addicts are human beings. They have become caught up in a lifestyle and an addition which allows them to lie, cheat, steal, neglect their children and be oblivious to what is going on. They often don't see anyway out when they do recognize the problem. Drug Court gives the drug user/addict a choice that is monitored, where they are held accountable, and where there is someone in the legal system pulling for them saying, "You can make it." Not to mention the rewards once they have successfully completed the program and have changed their lives. We need to get this approach in all our courts in Oregon and across the nation. The problem we are facing with methanphetamine users if allowed to continue without offering hope to the addicts will drain our society to the breaking point. I don't think there has ever been a more vicious drug with such long reaching arms across our country. Yes, putting them in jail only puts them right in with the individuals that they knew on the outside and with other hardened criminals. What a learning experience that is! Keep up the good work Judge Selander and let's see if this can catch on across our state.

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Former Prosecutor Tells Why Oregon's Drug Courts Work

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