Drug Court Turns Out 1st Class of Graduates

VAN NUYS — The first Valley graduates of a once-controversial drug court that puts offenders in intensive treatment programs rather than behind bars were honored for their perseverance at a graduation ceremony Thursday.

One by one, the longtime drug users stepped up to a courtroom podium and thanked the relatives, counselors and court officials who helped them kick the addictions that once ruled them.

It was, they said, a long and difficult process.

“I just can’t believe I’m standing here,” said Michelle Bopp. “I’ve had such a journey.”

She had been using cocaine since she was 14. By 19, she was living on the streets. Five years later, she was still homeless, had alienated her family and friends and been arrested numerous times, all because of drug use, she said. She went through many rehabilitation programs in and out of jail, but could never stay off drugs.

The drug court program, administered by the Tarzana Treatment Center, changed her life, Bopp said.

“I’m not the spiritually bankrupt person I was,” she said. Now clean and sober at 25, she earned a job as a receptionist at the treatment center where she was a patient.

Only 16% of drug court graduates are arrested again, officials said, compared with a 60% repeat rate by offenders who were incarcerated.

Supporters say the drug courts, operating in 10 Los Angeles courthouses, work because their participants are painstakingly screened and because the yearlong program is extraordinarily intensive. “They’re in every day, and that’s what works,” said Commissioner Mitchell Block, who oversees drug court for all San Fernando Valley defendants in Van Nuys Municipal Court.

Among those congratulating the graduates was rehabilitated heroin-user Chuck Negron, the former lead singer of the rock group Three Dog Night.

He said at the peak of his career, he made $13 million in one year but after countless arrests, failing 37 different drug programs and going in and out of jail for years, he was penniless and homeless.

“It would be great to hear that this first graduating class made it,” Negron said. “All you have to do is change everything.”

The court targets longtime drug users, many of whom have tried other programs and failed, he said. They can’t be drug dealers or have a history of violent offenses.

The participants are flagged initially by arresting police officers. Prosecutors, public defenders and counselors whittle the numbers down based on the defendants’ backgrounds, interest in the program and likelihood of completion.

“Obviously we cannot solve the drug problem by locking everyone up in jail,” said John Spillane, chief deputy district attorney in Van Nuys. “In the long run, society in general benefits by keeping this person drug-free and out of the criminal justice system.”

To graduate, drug offenders must attend group counseling six times a week, pass drug tests six times a week, attend individual counseling at least once a week and show up for frequent progress hearings before the judge or commissioner running the court.

Participants must get a job or attend school full time for the second half of the program.

Prosecutors drop the charges against those who complete the yearlong program. Those who fail are prosecuted. “It was a pain in the tush,” said Deborah Allsup, 41, of North Hollywood. “But you know what? It was the best thing that ever happened to me.”

Allsup cried as she described her use of marijuana and cocaine on a daily basis for 20 years. She’s been clean for 14 months.

“Today I can get up in the morning and go to work and have a life without drugs. I have a son who calls me mom instead of the few choice things he used to call me,” she said. “These people have shown me what it is to live a life, a real life.”