PITT COUNTY DRUG COURT PROGRAM FIGHTS CRIME AT ITS ROOT

Every week 32-year-old Emmett Lang submits
to drug tests, hours of counseling and meetings with his probation
officer.

He holds down two jobs and attends biweekly court sessions where he
must report to a judge about his activities since his last appearance.
His schedule is the result of a nine-year addiction to crack cocaine
that kept him in trouble with the law and has left him struggling to
lead a normal life.

For the last few weeks, however, Lang said he has a new view on life
because of his involvement in a program designed to divert
drug-addicted offenders in Pitt County from jail to the straight life
through intensive treatment. Now a month old, the program called Drug
Court is providing convicts with guidance to kick the habits that
landed them in jail. Federal grant money secured through the Pitt
County Sheriff's Office hired Carl Cogdell to lead the program in the
Pitt County court system. He will track 35 nonviolent, drug addicted
offenders for a year in hopes of ending a vicious cycle drug abuse,
crime and jail.

Each participant, referred to the program by a law officer or court
official, must attend group counseling twice a week, Narcotics
Anonymous three times a week, monthly individual counseling sessions
and submit to urinalysis three times weekly. They attend the Friday
court sessions under District Court Judge Joe Blick to account for
progress in treatment and other aspects of the program.

"This is tougher than regular probation," Cogdell said. "People have
to want to help themselves."

Participants who successfully kick their habits will reduce crime in
the county, officials said.

About 90 percent of forgery crimes and 70 percent of residential
break-ins and burglaries are committed to finance drug habits, said
Melissa Larson, grant writer for the Pitt County Sheriff's Office and
Cogdell's supervisor. Booking officers estimate 15 percent of people
locked up at the Pitt County Detention Center are under the influence
of a drug at the time of their arrest, she said.

Of the 10 people currently participating in the program, nine are
repeat offenders and at least half have served time in prison or have
been on probation. "We don't want to keep processing people" Larson
said. "They need help." Most of the seven men and three woman are
addicted to crack cocaine, but heroin and alcohol also are problems.
No one who has committed a violent crime or been charged with selling
drugs can be involved in the program, Cogdell said.

"These people come from all walks of life," Cogdell said. One is
attending college, and some are mothers. All but one have been through
drug treatment, Cogdell said. The additional guidance required by Drug
Court hopefully will help them succeed where they have failed in the
past, he said. For Lang, past trips to Narcotics Anonymous and other
attempts to get back on track during probation failed. He spent the
last five months in the detention center on drug related convictions
and had two years left to serve. A public defender referred him to
Drug Court, and Lang's application was accepted. "I was able to get
back to a crossroad where I could rationally look at things," Lang
said. "I could trust my own thoughts again, and I realized this is
what I wanted."

Cogdell said Lang has been responding well. He even received gift
certificates awarded at group sessions for a job well done. Eric
Valera, owner of Buffalo Wild Wings Grill and Bar, is one of several
business owners in the county who donate gift certificates as
incentive for participants.

"It's definitely a community oriented program," Valera said. "We are
just doing our part."

Officials said the incentives are just one reason the program is
special. Blick said he feels more like a coach than a judge during the
biweekly court. "I come out of there psyched every time I leave,"
Blick said. He said he makes sure Lang and the other participants give
full reports to help instill in them the importance of honesty.

Each person is addressed by first name, and Blick asks people in the
courtroom to applaud for participants who do well.

Conversely, Blick hands out sanctions for those who miss a counseling
session or fail a drug test.

The sanctions include punishments varying from community service to
jail time. "We do this to get them back on course," Blick said. Those
who refuse to follow the treatment and choose to leave must pick up
sentences where they left them before starting the program. Blick said
99 percent will face jail time.

Lang looks forward to the court sessions, he said. "It's good to know
people are helping for other reasons than just a paycheck," Lang said.
"It has given me some place to go and brag about my sobriety." Larson
said the program is modeled after similar drug courts in Craven,
Carteret and other surrounding counties. More than 20 drug courts
operate in North Carolina, according to the National Drug Court
Institute. While Larson said drug courts have been around since the
1980s, planning began two years ago to start one in Pitt County.

Larson said the federal grant totaled $39,709. Additional funds from
Pitt County and the Greenville Police Department made $52,946
available to pay Cogdell and operate the program.

The funds allowed the drug court to begin in September and run for one
year. Like many of the state's drug court programs, Larson said, the
Administrative Office of the Courts must decide whether or not to pick
up the costs. Larson plans to reapply for the same federal grant if
the state won't provide funding. "We are confident that it will
continue," she said. When the court meets for its next session Oct.
28, Cogdell said, plans are to add an additional three convicts who
have been recommended. Another 25 are expected to be added gradually
during the next year. "It feels good to know I have accomplished
something again," Lang said. "This has put responsibility back into
me."