Drug Court Program Seeks to Rehabilitate Nonviolent Addicts

He may not have any extra funding from the bankruptcy-strapped county, but Superior Court Judge David T. McEachen isn’t letting that stop him from starting a small drug court program aimed at rehabilitating nonviolent addicts.

McEachen and other court officials, working closely with Santa Ana and a soon-to-be-formed nonprofit fund-raising group, have started a pilot program for 25 felony drug possession offenders.

Drug court participants will plead guilty and be sentenced to probation from the start but will be allowed to erase the conviction if they successfully complete the program of drug testing, treatment, counseling and job training. Failure to complete the regimen--which would last at least a year--means jail or even prison.

Although the program is much smaller than one proposed before the county declared bankruptcy last month, its aim is the same, spelled out in its name: Project CLEAN (Community Leadership in the Elimination of Addiction of Narcotics).

Officials also hope to cut crime and costs. Keeping just one person out of county jail saves about $25,000 a year, according to recent court estimates.

“It’s worth it,” said McEachen, who on Friday accepted the program’s first participant, a 23-year-old woman who had a problem with heroin for 14 years. “If you save one person, you’ve got something started. You’re doing something.”

Local criminal justice officials originally planned to form a larger drug court, modeled after programs in Oakland, Portland, Ore., and other cities.

Typically in those programs, one judge and courtroom staff are designated as the drug court and eligible defendants are referred there from other courtrooms. The judges oversee the programs, and the defendants make frequent court appearances--in some cases once a week--to report their progress.

But those plans changed with the county’s bankruptcy and cutbacks to departments such as probation and health care that had been expecting to play large roles in the program.

Instead of giving up, McEachen said court officials had to get creative. They joined forces with the Santa Ana Private Industry Council and other city officials and started work to create a nonprofit board of directors to raise money for the project. Officials have applied for $28,000 to cover drug testing through a Santa Ana community development federal grant fund program and requested $250,000 in state criminal justice money as well.

The revised pilot project will involve 25 Santa Ana residents who have been arrested for felony possession of cocaine, heroin or methamphetamines. Those eligible may have a history of drug arrests but cannot have a record of violence. They will be referred from Municipal Court in Santa Ana to Judge McEachen, who will personally monitor their progress, in addition to his regular criminal caseload.

“We’ll give them a focus and a light at the end of the tunnel,” said McEachen, who hopes to expand the program once he gets funding. “They will know there are people behind them and people who want them to succeed.”

The program is also believed to be the first in the country to require participants to find a job. Participants will get help with that requirement through the Santa Ana Private Industry Council, which receives federal funds to train and find work for those with little resources.

“We’re reaching people who have barriers and have a need for our services,” said Patty Nunn, executive director of the council. “That’s exactly what we’re about.”

Officials say the key to the program’s long-term success will involve cooperation between nearly all aspects of the criminal justice system, from police to public defenders. In finding common ground, officials cite such things as a study recently released by the state Department of Alcohol and Drug Programs showing that every dollar spent on treatment for drug and alcohol abuse saves $7, mostly through the reduction in crime and health care costs.

“From a law enforcement standpoint, we know that incarceration in and of itself does not solve all the problems, particularly in the area of drug usage for personal use,” said Santa Ana Police Capt. Dan McCoy, who has helped organize the pilot program.

As long as program remains rigorous and free of violent offenders, McCoy said, he has hopes for this new stringent alternative to jail.

“If (participants) succeed, they’ll be contributing members of the community,” he said. “If not, we’ll stick them in the slammer. . . . From that perspective, we can see some benefits for law enforcement.”