Drug Court program proves beneficial

Nick Ianniello

Mineral Independent

A former Lake County Commissioner who was arrested on charges of driving under the influence last February completed his stint in Mineral County’s Drug and Alcohol Treatment Court Wednesday afternoon.

“I felt it was a good program, I still think it’s a good program. My aspiration would be to have the legislature fund more of these throughout the state,” said former Lake County Commissioner Mike Hutchin.

Hutchin, who stepped down from his commissioner seat this December after serving Lake County for 24 years, was arrested in his parked, running car at Lincoln’s $10,000 Bar and Hotel on Feb. 1, 2008 with a blood alcohol content of 0.227, well over Montana’s legal limit of 0.08.

As part of his sentence, Hutchin had to complete an alcohol treatment program under the supervision of the Mineral County Drug Court, a program which he helped to implement when he spent time representing the county commissioners of Montana on the District Court Council Advisory Committee.

While the irony of the situation is not lost on Hutchin, he viewed it as an opportunity to not only deal with his own issues with alcohol, but to also see this program in action.

“It’s not hard. It’s oppressive; it never leaves your mind,” Hutchin said about the program.

Mineral County Attorney Shuan Donovan said that Mineral County is one of a few counties in Montana that has a drug court program. It started with a youth drug court in 2001, and the adult drug court program in has been active in Mineral County for the past two years.

The program receives some federal and state funding and is one of the only ways someone convicted of an alcohol or drug related offense can get that offense removed from their criminal records.

To enter the program defendants plead guilty to their offense and enter the program. Upon successful completion of their treatment the conviction is removed from their record.

The program is an intensified probation process with regular drug tests, house visits, weekly court meetings and weekly counseling sessions.

“We know that when anybody comes into drug court it can be a lot like stepping into a cold shower because you’re giving up a lot of control over your life and no one likes to do that,” Donovan said.

While it is a difficult process, Hutchin said that he found the program to be helpful and easy to abide by.

“You live by rules. We all live by rules and when the rules are there and you know what they are, it’s easy,” Hutchin said.

At the weekly court meetings, Donovan said officials try to focus on the positive things people have accomplished in the program, through a “strength based” incentive program.

“The idea is that you find the positive things in somebody, the things they like to do, the things that are positive, the things that are their strengths,” Donovan said. “You use those things to get at this drug and alcohol problem that they’ve got.”

As part of their positive reinforcement, participants in Mineral County Drug Court get to draw a prize from a fish bowl after completing a successful week in the program. Items like screwdrivers and other tools are purchased at a discount from local stores with money from drug forfeiture funds and used as prizes for the program.

“We’re making a positive impact. There are no guarantees but we would’ve quit doing it if we didn’t think that we were doing some good,” Donovan said.

After completing the program one of the things Hutchin said he would like to see added to drug courts in Mineral County and throughout Montana is a handbook or manual that would explain the process in more detail, giving people a better idea of what they are getting themselves into.

“When you enter into this drug court you have no idea what it is,” Hutchin said. “There are a number of people that, had they known what they were going to go through in this program, they would have just pled guilty to their DUI.”

Hutchin said that driving more than 240 miles round trip from Lake County each week was quite an expense for him, although it was worth it to be part of the program.

He added that since he could afford it he also had to pay for his weekly counseling sessions. Based on a sliding income scale participants may be required to spend their own money for counseling if they can afford it.

After completing the program Hutchin said that he enjoyed getting to interact with the members of his counseling group and that he was impressed with how well they were doing in the program.

“In general I’d say that all of my classmates are really good and they’re very committed to this,” Hutchin said.

The program can save the county money by keeping people out of jail that do not need to be there.

“For one tenth the amount of money it costs to lock someone up we get a result that is substantially better,” Donovan said.

Donovan said that the program has had a great effect on Mineral County, even though it is often difficult to gauge success in drug court programs.

“One of the things that’s hard is, what is success,” said Donovan. “Obviously the guy that never drinks again is successful. But how about the guy that goes back to drinking but instead of getting blitzed and driving home from the bar drunk, he’s walking home from the bar and only getting blitzed a couple times a year instead of every night of the week.”