Prevention and Recovery Ministry

Prevention and Recovery Ministry

This week's article is about 2 men who recently graduated from Carroll County’s Adult Drug Treatment Court.  Family and friends and state and county officials filled the room to celebrate and to praise the program that offers a range of treatment services as an alternative to jail time.  Drug Treatment Court is an intensive program lasting a minimum of 13 months that creates individualized treatment plans for participants as they submit to regular drug screenings and court appearances and are monitored by a probation agent and case manager.  As of February, 544 people had entered the program since its inception in 2007 and 301 have graduated.  Participants must be county residents, nonviolent offenders and over the age of 18 and are typically referred to the court by judges and attorneys.  These courts are part of a system of problem-solving courts in the state of Maryland, including juvenile drug courts, mental health courts, truancy courts, and the Central Maryland Regional Veterans Treatment Court.  The Harford County Adult Drug Court Program (Adult Drug Court | Harford County, MD) has been in operation in the District Court for Harford County since November of 1997.  The York County Drug Court (Wellness Courts | York County, PA) was founded in 1997 and serves non-violent offenders with diagnosed substance use disorders.  The goal of these programs is to help defendants stay out of the criminal justice system by addressing underlying causes of criminal behavior.  They also save taxpayer money by keeping offenders out of prison.  Here's the link to the article: After 623 days of work Carroll drug treatment court grad celebrates freedom from addiction – Baltimore Sun