Published: May 16, 2008 12:28 pm            

Drug Court graduates first class

After being charged with delivery of cannabis in the summer of 2006, Dexter Sloan had a decision to make.

“It was either prison or this,” Sloan said Thursday.

“This” was the new Effingham County Drug Court. Sloan, who turns 30 next week, was one of the program’s first five graduates Thursday. The other four graduates were Jason Rodriguez, Austin Schroeder, Paige Lorton and Jody Beccue.

Sloan, an Altamont resident who regained his job at Quebecor Petty after agreeing to participate in Drug Court, said prison wouldn’t have done him any good.

“I knew if I went to prison, I would have come out with the same anger and attitude,” he said.

Then there was the matter of supporting his five sons.

“I had five boys that I needed to start being responsible for,” he said.

County Probation Director Cheryl Meyers said Thursday’s graduates were “five remarkable individuals who were willing to deal with the change process.”

Drug Court was the brainchild of Associate Judge James Harvey, who first brought up the idea at a meeting of Fourth Circuit judges several years ago.

“What is Drug Court?” Harvey asked. “These people have completed one of the most challenging and exhausting times of their lives.”

Harvey said Drug Court focuses on a treatment model, though transgressors from the rules are often dealt with by imprisonment.

“We try to treat them as people with a problem, not people who are the problem,” said Harvey of the drug court program.

The Drug Court regimen included four random drug screens a week, several 12-step program meetings a week, as well as group and individual counseling. Oh, let’s not forget actual Drug Court sessions on Friday afternoons

“We set the bar high,” Harvey said. “Drug Court ain’t for sissies.”

Each Drug Court participant received a pocket calendar and alarm clock to keep track of their assignments. Thursday, the graduates each received a watch.

Sadly, Meyers said, not everybody referred to Drug Court makes it through the program.

“We’ve had 10 who have been kicked out and are now in DOC (Department of Corrections),” she said. “Others didn’t live in Effingham County, while still others preferred jail.”

But Meyers said she hopes Thursday’s graduation is a motivating factor for the 20 or so who remain in the program.

“I think they see the light at the end of the tunnel,” she said. “It’s a difficult and time-consuming program, but they have learned to talk to each other.”

Those in the packed courtroom also heard from Sandy S., who uses only her last initial in keeping with the 12-step policy.

Sandy, a 23-year recoverer, said she was proud of the graduates and remembered how things have changed from when she first got sober.

“When I got clean, there was nothing for drug addicts in this area,” she said. “So, we started our own.”

Sandy said she didn’t know if she could have handled the Drug Court regimen.

“I just had to stay sober and go to meetings,” she said. “I don’t know if I could have been responsible enough to do what these people had to do.”

Meyers recognized several people who have been involved in the program from its beginning two years ago, including probation officer Christine Winters, Public Defender Lupita Thompson, Assistant State’s Attorney Ralph Fowler and contract counselor Amy Guy.

Thompson said much of the credit should go to Harvey for getting the program started.

“God has provided a special place in heaven for Judge Harvey because of the way he has gotten this program running,” she said.

Chief Judge Gene Schwarm also praised Harvey.

“To say he has a passion for Drug Court is an understatement,” Schwarm said.

Meyers also recognized the Strategic Training and Restoration (STAR) group that helps raise money for Drug Court.

Bill Grimes can be reached at 217-347-7151 ext. 131 or bill.grimes@effinghamdailynews.com.