By Nolan Madden Twelve years ago, Navajo County Sheriff K.C. Clark traveled with a group of county court officials to Buffalo, N.Y., for a closer look at an innovative drug rehabilitation model with the goal of helping non-violent offenders recover and become productive citizens. The result became the Navajo County Drug Court, which began in 2006 and serves an average of 50 participants per year, with 10 to 15 of those completing the program and graduating. The first drug court in the United States was formed in Miami-Dade County, Fla., in 1989, in response to a growing crack cocaine problem in that city. It provided for nonviolent offenders to receive treatment, and quickly became a popular method for dealing with the increasing numbers of drug offenses. According to one estimate, as of June 2014, more than 3,400 drug courts currently operate throughout the U.S. Locally, individuals are generally referred to the program as an option for sentencing by the county attorney’s office or their defense attorney. Ultimately, the sentencing judge determines whether to sentence someone to the program, which can last up to one year or longer. If entrants do not pass the program, an alternative sentence of jail time or intensive probation is issued; if they complete the program, charges could be dropped. County officials place high confidence in participants’ sobriety, recognizing that recovery is a long process, and remaining committed to supporting each individual for the long term. “The road to recovery is extremely hard,” Clark related at a drug court graduation ceremony in Holbrook last week. He explained that during his years working with the Major Crimes Apprehension team, he would often arrest persons for the same drug offenses repeatedly, and realized “that we needed to do something different. “You can’t arrest your way out of a problem, and that’s what we were doing. As I’ve talked to hundreds, if not thousands of people over the years, not one of them has said that they enjoyed being addicted. “But if you can get people recovered, that saves taxpayers a ton of money; they can get jobs and they begin to treat their families better, so drug court is a very important tool,” said Clark. He noted that 80 percent of persons incarcerated in the Navajo County Jail do not have a secondary diploma, which he says can be a contributing factor to the addiction process. “Education is the key to success,” Clark said, encouraging the graduates to take advantage of trade and academic courses offered at Northland Pioneer College as a component of their recovery, and of their lives moving forward. As part of their program graduation, participants receive a judge-endorsed petition granting the early termination of probation, along with certificates marking their sobriety milestones and a plaque for completion of the course. Navajo County Superior Court Judge Dale Nielson echoed Clark’s sentiments of support and encouragement to the current and former program graduates. “When you participate in drug court, even though you’re on probation, you’re just not free. A lot of what we do in drug court, in the end, is all about freedom: from other people telling you what to do, from the rules of probation. But the most important freedom that we want you to feel is the freedom from addiction,” Judge Nielson said. Program graduates Brizielle Bazan and Connie Higgins expressed their gratitude for the opportunity and assistance. “For me, things started off pretty easy, I just thought I’d fly through it. And then I let things get tough, and I relapsed. But I didn’t let it stop me, and I got through it,” said Bazan. Higgins, who Judge Nielson says “had one foot in prison” when he met her, made a specific request of the judge: the reinstatement of her voting rights, which she wasn’t aware are automatically renewed once probation ends. “I’m really grateful for all that I went through. It was easy for me in the beginning, but the downfall came for me when my father had his stroke. But I didn’t lie, and I reported everything whenever I relapsed. “As far as being sent to rehab, if I had a choice, I don’t think I would have gone. But it was actually one of the best things for me. I’m really happy to have walked through those doors, and I probably never would have if it weren’t for drug court,” she said. For more information, contact Navajo County Drug Court Coordinator Tonya Reed at (928) 313-0033.