LOSS OF FUNDING THREATENS CHARLESTON COUNTY'S DRUG COURT

Original Federal Monies To Run Out May 31; Officials Hope To Win Second
Competitive Grant

The Charleston County Adult Drug Court, which has kept scores of nonviolent
drug offenders out of prison and drug free, soon could reduce services if
its federal funding ends this month. The first federal grant that created
the innovative program in July 1999 will expire May 31. But a second
two-year grant for $300,000, if approved, would improve the court and give
it time to become less dependent on public money, court officials said. As
the first grant expires, the court could learn if it is picked from drug
courts around the nation for the competitive second grant, said program
coordinator Schelley Strasberg. More than 270 drug courts nationwide have
applied for more than $100 million in funding, but Congress has approved
only half that amount for the next fiscal year, a Justice Department
spokesperson said. The possible loss of funding has created optimistic
tension among local court officials and their clients, who in many cases
have shaken drug habits to work full time and care for families. "We are in
the eleventh hour," said Associate Probate Court Judge Tamara Curry, who
presides over the drug court with Probate Judge Irvin Condon. "If the
funding does not come in May, I am not going to say the program ends in
June." If the grant is denied, the drug court will ask Charleston County
Council and other local groups for help to continue the court's most
expensive service, drug treatment, she said. The court has three paid
employees and 10 volunteers on the staffs of the solicitor and public
defender. The S.C. Senate has put $1 million in the pending state budget to
fund drug courts in 10 of the state's 16 judicial circuits.

But that money is not guaranteed, and it must be shared with other drug
courts, Curry said. "We are hoping that with (federal money) we can keep
the court going and become nonprofit," she said. "If we don't get the
money, we will do everything creatively to keep the program going." Drug
court participants plead guilty to charges of selling and using illegal
narcotics.

They are given prison sentences that are set aside while they work, avoid
drugs and follow court rules, said Assistant Solicitor Ravi Sanyal. Once
they graduate from the program,which can take more than a year to complete,
prosecutors request that guilty pleas are withdrawn and the charges
dismissed, Sanyal said. With mandatory counseling, drug testing and
appearances at weekly court sessions, the program is more intensive and
restrictive than probation, said Rickey C. Dennis, one of two drug court
counselors. With its funding in doubt, the court has not admitted new
participants in the last 10 months, Strasberg said. "We are giving
treatments, but we don't have the opportunity to reach out to the community
to get other people to take advantage of this program," she said. "It has
helped me turn my life around," said Nickole Kormaris, a 27-year-old Ladson
free-lance artist who has kicked a $1,000-a-day cocaine habit after
pleading guilty to trafficking cocaine in 1999. "Drug court teaches people
to be responsible, and counselors are so intensive they can tell if you are
lying, stealing and using drugs.

If you get caught, you go to prison." In Kormaris' case, that prison
sentence would have been 30 years. Drug court graduate Arnold Venning of
Charleston said the program helped him get a 15-year 1999 cocaine
trafficking sentence dismissed and steered him into counseling for the
alcohol abuse that fueled his addiction. "I never craved cocaine until I drank.

I've learned to be responsible to find out my triggers.

As long as I don't pick up that first drink, I don't have to find the
drugs," said the 51-year-old Venning, who works as a waiter and bartender
and is now enrolled in Alcoholics Anonymous. Ending or reducing the
program, Venning said, "would be a loss for people who want more than just
their charges dropped but want help with their drug problem." While there
is no guarantee the Justice Department will approve the grant, the court's
success at changing lives, its designation as a mentor court for drug
courts nationally and Condon's reputation nationwide make it a good
candidate for renewed funding, Strasberg said. Condon is recognized as a
leading teacher of drug court judges around the country, Strasberg said.
While presiding over drug court, Condon and Curry praise participants
who've done well, but with a sympathetic tone they scold others and
sometimes order them to brief stints in jail if they break the rules.

Those with too many infractions are tossed out to serve their full prison
sentences. "You never can tell who will do well and the one who will turn
their life around," Condon said. Half of the people enrolled in drug court
have graduated or are still in the program, Strasberg said. Twenty-eight of
the local court's 132 enrollees have graduated, and there are currently 48
in the program.

Eleven of them are expected to graduate Thursday. The court's current
retention rate of 57 percent is lower than the national average, but the
rate last summer was above the national average of 67 percent, she added.