Drug Program makes participants leave excuses behind them

"Trying" is a word that will get District Judge Jack Lehman's immediate attention every time in his drug court.

He doesn't want to hear about trying. People in his program have to do a lot better than that.

No excuses. No trying. Just results. And results mean drug-free lives.

Drug Court began in Las Vegas in 1992 as a program based on findings in Florida, where studies showed that arrests were not putting a dent in the drug problem. Something more than busting the sellers was needed. That was the birth of Drug Court -- a program designed to cut demand, a program to take in addicts and turn out drug-free citizens.

Since the Clark County Drug Court began in 1992, Lehman has seen more than 900 people graduate from its attendant three-phase program run by Choices Unlimited, a private clinic that uses counseling, urinalysis and acupuncture to rid people of their addictions.

The program, which has expanded to where it can handle up to 1,200 participants at any one time, is funded by the county, state and federal government. It lasts one full year and the cost per person is $1,200. Participants pay $10 to $30 a week, according to their ability.

Those going through the program are chosen by Lehman. Most are people who have been arrested for drug offenses or other nonviolent crimes for which drug abuse is thought to be the underlying problem. Many participants learn about the program in jail. Others are there as part of a plea bargain or condition of probation. A few participants are the significant others of criminals, under the theory that for drug-free lives to be sustained, a person's environment also must be free of drugs.

On July 11, President Clinton announced $27 million in federal grants to plan, implement or enhance new and existing drug courts in 45 states and territories. In Nevada, there are nine drug courts.

"There are about 400 drug courts nationwide," Lehman said. "It has come a long way, and it's amazing the way that the program has expanded and exploded."

The Clark County Drug Court program consists of detoxification, rehabilitation, counseling sessions and court appearances for status checks.

The first sight for a new participant in Drug Court is that of the previous graduating class, receiving their diplomas and getting congratulations from court officials. This shows the new arrivals the potential for turning their own lives around.

And the first person a new Drug Court participant encounters is Lehman.

"That judge, he is no joke," said Dan Shepard, a phase-three Drug Court participant. "He doesn't mess around, and you don't want to get on his bad side."

Getting on Lehman's bad side means not obeying the rules that are spelled out to participants in their first visit to his court.

Ways in which a participant is sure to be kicked out of the program include trying to pass off a false urine test, failing to make appearances, having a bench warrant issued for them or being arrested for selling drugs.

"The carrot that we dangle for these people is substantial," Lehman said. "A person with a felony conviction in Nevada cannot ask the court to seal that record for 15 years. If they successfully complete Drug Court, that felony is sealed and basically forgotten.

"With that incentive, we're not interested in people trying, we're interested in people getting off drugs."

Phase one of the program lasts two weeks, and participants must be at the court's Choices Unlimited Clinic six days. In phase one, participants undergo acupuncture treatments every day and submit to observed urine sampling and counseling every other day.

Phase two lasts 16 weeks and requires urine tests, acupuncture and counseling three days a week.

"If people are doing well, we praise them, but if they're not, we try to remind them of what they need to be doing," Lehman said.

Those reminders include four- and seven-day stays in prison for those who cannot get clean tests in phase one or miss counseling and acupuncture sessions.

Phase one is where people sometimes try to pass off false urine samples, Lehman said.

"We caught one lady who would take her 2-year-old daughter into the bathroom and tell her to pee in the bottle," Lehman said. "We have a very small amount of people who actually try to pass false samples and circumvent the other rules. It's probably about 5 percent."

One person in that 5 percent was former Deputy District Attorney Steve Hill. Hill chose to go to Drug Court after Metro Police found small amounts of rock cocaine in his car.

He was booted out of the program in May after Lehman determined that Hill had turned in a false urine sample during an unsupervised urine analysis. Hill then produced an observed urine sample that tested positive for cocaine.

Now Hill is scheduled for a Sept. 2 sentencing on a felony drug charge that carries a penalty of up to four years in prison.

"There are always people trying to beat the program," said Fred Kennedy, a defense attorney who often works the Wednesday Drug Court session. "For the most part, the people in the program need to be there. They are primarily a threat to themselves and their families, but not to the community as a whole."

Lehman agreed with Kennedy, saying that for every person who does not make it through the program, there are many that do.

"I look at it as a second chance," said Steve Roush, 44, who is in phase one. "I started doing drugs when I was in the Marines. I was 17, and I've done it all.

"Now I'm looking for a new high: that I can get clean before my father dies."

Shepard knows Roush has a long way to go because he has been there. Shepard has been in the program since November and should graduate soon.

"I was busted for speed when I learned about this program," Shepard, 26, said. "I was in jail and I thought this was a great deal.

"I recommend the program to anyone who is going to take it seriously because a deal like this does not come along very often."

Because he is in phase three, Shepard has to produce urine samples and attend counseling and acupuncture sessions only twice a week. Phase three, like the previous phase, lasts 16 weeks.

Lehman reviews the status of each participant in court and decides whether they need to move up a phase, remain where they are, move down a phase or be removed from the program. With more than 1,200 people in the program, the Tuesday morning and Wednesday evening court sessions can have 100 cases on the docket.

"It wears you out," Lehman said. "It is much more tiring than presiding over a murder case because in Drug Court I'm constantly talking and making rulings."

Despite so many cases, Lehman says he constantly must change his approach to suit each individual.

During a five-minute period in a recent court session, Lehman went from saying how happy he was with a graduate to threatening a man with jail time because he had nine contaminated urine tests in a row.

Something that helps ease the workload is that the attorneys and Lehman work together, the judge said.

"It is kind of a different environment in Drug Court," defense attorney Fred Kennedy said. "It's a situation where the left hand really knows what the right hand is doing."

Kennedy, who has been working without financial compensation in Drug Court for four years, said he is happy to see the program catching on and expanding nationally.

"It's great to see the federal money coming into the program," Kennedy said. "The Las Vegas court has been a big part of that, serving as a model for many courts across the country."

Lehman's court is one of eight in the nation that serves as a mentor for court districts contemplating starting a similar program. Nevada's nine drug courts include family courts, adult courts and a juvenile court in Reno that is the first of its kind in the United States.

With prisons continuing to fill around the country, such programs are a good alternative, Lehman said.

"One of the major purposes of the court is to take drug addicts out of prison and leave beds for those who commit violent crimes," Lehman said. "Those are the people who need to be there."

archive