Lewis County Prosecutor Jonathan Meyer discusses local drug activity with a Chronicle reporter and law enforcement officials in September.
Lewis County Drug Court has been active for more than 10 years working to help repeat felony drug offenders break the cycle of substance abuse and addiction.
But what if there was a court-based program that could help people stop using before they become immersed in the local drug culture?
The Lewis County Prosecutor’s Office is working on creating a program that aims to do that.
Chief Criminal Deputy Prosecutor Brad Meagher described a case he worked on earlier this year in which a defendant was prescribed pain medication following an accident and then began abusing pills.
She had started rehab before being summonsed to the Prosecutor’s Office for charges.
He said because she didn’t have prior convictions, she didn’t qualify for drug court, which actually dismisses felony charges for successful program graduates.
“This first time offender, good citizen, took initiative on her own to get herself into rehab … what does she get? She gets a conviction. That doesn’t seem fair,” Meagher said.
The Prosecutor’s Office is in the early stage, the discussion phase, of developing a drug alternative program for first time offenders. Prosecutor Jonathan Meyer said his goal is to have a workable model for the program in place by the end of the year.
The new program would give those offenders the opportunity to get treatment, comply with the law and have the case dismissed.
“It’s not going to be, ‘Oh, this is your first time, we’ll go ahead and give you a break.’ There are people that commit crimes who even though it’s their first time they don’t … necessarily need a break,” Meyer said.
Meyer wants the program to get productive members of society who have started abusing drugs back to abiding the law and being productive, and to keep their addiction from progressing.
According to the National Survey on Drug Use and Health, heroin use has been increasing in the U.S. since 2007, and research shows that many heroin users first abused prescription opioids.
Some reasons for switching are because heroin is cheaper and easier to get.
“If we can have earlier intervention … then we don’t have to wait for them to get bad enough to get into regular drug court,” Meyer said.
While Meagher said the Prosecutor’s Office doesn’t see many first time offender cases like the one he described, he does think there are enough people to warrant and sustain the program.
The Prosecutor’s Office doesn’t want to mix first-time offenders into drug court because new offenders could be negatively affected by further introduction into the drug culture by repeat offenders.
Meyer said existing personnel will take on the work of the program and aside from treatment costs, there should be little to no additional cost to support it.
“Lewis County is, I think, a great county for programs like this because even though we’re a conservative county, we care about people,” Meyer said. “We don’t want to see people get in the grips of drugs, and we have that natural desire to help people.”
