STONE COUNTY DRUG COURT 2018 GRADUATION
On Thursday, November 1, 2018, at the Reeds Spring Middle School, the Stone County Drug Court held a graduation ceremony to celebrate the completion of the program for 26 participants. Over 100 community members, family members, friends, and community leaders gathered to celebrate the occasion and support those that have worked so hard to succeed.
Judge Alan Blankenship shares a message of encouragement with current, past, and future graduates.
Stone County introduced Drug Court, a diversion program for drug motivated criminal offenders, in 2004. Since its inception, there have been a total of 275 graduates of the program. This Drug Court has three components; drug motivated offenders, repeat DWI offenders, and another program specifically geared toward veterans with substance use or mental health problems. Since its inception, it has also evolved into a mentor court. There are 3,000 drug courts in the US, but the Stone County Drug Court is one of only nine mentor courts in the nation. This particular program is overseen and administered by Judge Alan Blankenship. “Drug Court programs are the biggest shift in criminal justice in the last half century, outperforming traditional approaches of probation or prison while saving money. We are grateful for the opportunity to help our community be safer, and help other programs from around the country improve.”
Drug Courts have an intense focus on supervision and individualized and group services, inclusive of a minimum program participation of 18 months. Each individual takes part in a minimum of twice weekly drug screenings, mandatory counseling, meetings with probation officer, daily call-ins, monthly drug court dates, payment for services, substance use treatment, a minimum of 150 community service hours, the requirement to complete a high school education if that is lacking, and if necessary, behavioral health treatment.
Drug Court allows individuals the opportunity to avoid incarceration, while learning or re-learning healthy lifestyle skills, enabling them to becoming productive citizens. This is especially notable, considering that 80% of those in prison have a moderate or severe Substance Use Disorder (SUD).
Tammy McLaughlin is honored for her five year anniversary of graduating Stone County Drug Court.
The key to its success is multi-faceted and involves the changing of future behavior, program responsiveness to research and best practices, the way the whole team looks at each individual, and most important, a willingness on each individual to make the decision to be ready and willing to change. Tammy McLaughlin, who was recognized that night for the five-year anniversary of her Drug Court graduation stated, “Drug Court gave me my life and my family back.” Tammy has gone on to use her experience to help others find their path to recovery as a Certified Peer Specialist through a program called Peers Empowering and Encouraging Peers (PEEPs).
The next Drug Court graduation ceremony is scheduled for Thursday, February 7, 2019 at 6:00pm at the Reeds Spring Middle School. Please come out and support the next group of graduates!
