The JAG funds total $23,855 and will be used to maintain the salaries of a part-time drug coun-selor.
According to District Court Administrator, Jody Overcash, the funds were applied for in May, and awarded the end of September as part of the Recovery and Reinvestment Act enacted in February.
“The funds will help us maintain treatment for those in the drug court program,” said Superior Court Judge, Scott Smith.
The program was first implemented in Gordon County this past July, and while no groups have graduated from the program, Smith said he is already seeing the benefits.
“I looked at a group of our participants who are now in the final phases of the program, they look like different people,” Smith said. “They are employed and involved in their community service.”
The drug court program is a court-ordered treatment program that blends counseling with a strict accountability program that requires frequent in-person court hearings and intensive monitoring.
“A lot of the people in the program have dealt with substance abuse before with jail and proba-tion. They are repeat offenders. We are their last chance before prison,” Smith said. “But, they have to want to change their life.”
The new grant will assist those in the program by providing contract counselors to work with drug court participants. Smith says the program is well worth the grant funding.
“The percentages of success rates say that is a benefit to the community. The program is turning around some of the worst cases and helping people become viable citizens,” Smith said.
According to Smith, in neighboring communities the program has had an 80 percent success rate.
The drug court program also saves taxpayers the cost of housing drug county participants as prison inmates. The average cost of an inmate in Georgia is $25 -$45 daily, according to the Georgia Department of Corrections.
In January the court will graduate it’s first group of participants.
“These folks have come a long way,” Smith said.
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