Judge: Program not for dealers, but those willing to kick the habit

Local court officials are putting together a special program designed to help drug users kick their addictions instead of heading to jail on felony charges.

A special drug court program is being formed under the leadership of Superior Court Judge Tommy Hankinson, who wants to steer addicts toward a successful treatment program with weekly drug screening and twice-weekly “drug court” appearances to track each individual’s progress.

Hankinson has had to re-sentence repeat drug offenders more than he’d like to, and with no treatment options in jail, they go back to using once released, the judge said.

The payoff of the drug court for addicts is not only a chance to avoid jail time, but also to get their most recent drug charge wiped off their record if they successfully complete the program, Hankinson said.

Participants will pay a monthly fee, with other costs picked up from a special fund consisting of revenue from court fines, Hankinson said.

The Griffin Judicial Circuit, which includes Fayette, Spalding, Pike and Upson counties, has received $56,000 in start-up grants from the state for the program, whose sole paid employee will be the drug court supervisor, Hankinson said.

The drug court will start small at the beginning, and Hankinson realizes not all participants will turn out to be success stories. But he wants the initiative to make a difference.

“Anybody can send someone to jail,” Hankinson said, noting that it costs Georgia taxpayers more than $17,000 a year to house one person in prison.

The drug court program will take between 18 months and two years for an individual to complete. Applicants to the program will be pre-screened by a committee so real drug dealers aren’t given a shot at using the program to avoid jail time, Hankinson said.

Each applicant must also undergo a psychological screening before they can be considered for the program, he added.

The applicants must be recommended for the program by their defense attorney, Hankinson said. And if they don’t have their high school diploma, participants will also be required to get their GED.

If a participant fails a drug test or fails to show up at the appointed time for a drug test, he or she can be put back in jail as determined by the judge, Hankinson said. And if a participant in the program continually falls behind on his or her obligations, their probation can be revoked, sending them back to jail for an extended period of time, Hankinson said.

A protocol to deal with such violations will be developed by the drug court board, Hankinson said.

“The question is, what’s the most effective way to deal with these people,” Hankinson said.

Also on the drug court board will be representatives of the district attorney’s office, the public defender’s office, law enforcement and the drug treatment community.

Some of the larger drug courts in the state handle as many as 125 offenders or more. That likely won’t be the case here, at least at the outset, Hankinson said.

He does envision growing the program one day to the point where a part-time senior judge will be necessary to take over supervision of the drug court operations. For now, Hankinson will be in charge of the twice-weekly hearings.