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CONLEY COMMENTARY (WSAU) – I will be in drug court this afternoon.
Marathon County has a diversion program for drug users. For a minimum of 14 months addicts agree to intensive monitoring and testing. They have access to treatment and counciling, and if they complete the program some of the charges against them are dropped.
I’ll be attending the drug court graduation ceremony for a member of my church. He’s turned his life around by turning to Jesus Christ. And he’s been sober for a year-and-a-half.
I am in awe of people who’ve been able to turn away from addiction. I know someone else in church who has three weeks of being drug and alcohol free. You might say, “well, that isn’t very long.” And I say, “not so fast.”
Surely you don’t think everything’s gone right over the past three weeks. Certainly there were days when there wasn’t enough money, or there were disagreements at work, or relationship programs, or just simply day-to-day frustrations. All of those things lead an addict to reach for the bottle, or the pills, or the drugs. And yet for the past three weeks this person has said ‘no’. And that’s a very good start.
My drug-court graduate friend is doing very well. When I see him each Sunday, I see leadership qualities in him. He has all the skills and abilities to lead others to faith and to sobriety.
75-percent of the addicts who complete a drug court program stay sober. Finally, something in the criminal justice system that works. Today is graduation day, and that is worth celebrating.
Chris Conley
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