Addiction Recovery Los Angeles California

Local Addiction Recovery Interventionists Chris Suchanek, Interventionist discusses how a local Court has attempted to treat those convicted of drug and alcohol crimes differently.

Whether 20 years, 2 years or 2 months the potential consequences of untreated drug abuse is arrest, jail and under certain circumstances, prison; needless to say this costs America billions of dollars each year. Worst yet there is little evidence that criminalizing drug use and alcohol intoxication is making a change.

Rio Hondo Court in Los Angeles County has adopted new a program for second and third time drug and alcohol offenders to help them with their addiction recovery. Drug Court, as it is called, is a planned treatment intervention, that required monitoring assessment, psychoeducaitonal treatment and participation in a 12-step program. The success of drug court had been evaluated by RAND who wrote in their evaluation, "The unique legal treatment of DUI offender in California may hide additional cost savings that could be accrued in other jurisdictions through the adoption of this program."(1)

New programs like Drug Court are exciting because they begin to recognize that people who are addicted to drugs and alcohol need help not just jail. Furthermore Drug Court teaches us that to successfully treat drug and alcohol addiction it is important that a variety of treatment options are used. The hard part is orchestrating these options to work for the person who is addicted.

1. Eibner, C., Morral, A., Pacula, R., and MacDonals, J., (2006) Is the drug court model exportable? The cost effectiveness of a driving-under-the-influence court. Journal of Substance Abuse Treatement 31, 75-85.