Ceremony to celebrate opening of drug courts in Logan County

 LOGAN, W.Va. – A ceremony celebrating the opening of adult and juvenile drug courts in Logan County will be held at noon on Thursday, July 16, 2009, at the Coalfield Jamboree, across Main Street from the Logan County Courthouse in Logan.

Supreme Court Chief Justice Brent D. Benjamin will be the keynote speaker.

The public is invited to attend the celebration. 

The drug court programs – one for adults, and one for juveniles – are designed to offer community-based treatment programs to non-violent offenders who abuse or are addicted to substances. The adult program, which began accepting participants in February, is expected to serve at least seventy-five people by the end of 2009. The juvenile drug court, which began accepting participants in April, is expected to serve up to 35 people. 

Judge Eric H. O'Briant will be the presiding judge of the drug courts in Logan County. He and Logan County Chief Judge Roger Perry also will speak at the ceremony, as will Logan County Commission President Art Kirkendoll, David Potters of the West Virginia Partnership to Promote Community Well-Being, Supreme Court Administrator Steve Canterbury, and three people from the Supreme Court Administrative Office: Mike Lacy, Director of Probation Services; Angie Saunders, Director of Court Services; and Linda Richmond Artimez, Director of Mental Hygiene and Treatment Courts. 

The Logan County drug courts are part of the Southwestern Regional Drug Court that also includes Boone and Lincoln Counties. 

As is the case with all drug courts, Judge O'Briant will work with multi-disciplinary teams. The Logan County Drug Court teams include a judge, prosecutor, defense counsel, probation officer, treatment providers, and other community service providers. 

Since the beginning of the year, five drug courts have opened to serve adults in West Virginia, bringing the total to nine regional drug court programs serving twenty-four counties, or half the state. Another adult drug court is expected to open later this year in Cabell County. West Virginia also has juvenile drug courts serving youths in Cabell and Wayne Counties. 

Of the five adult drug courts opened this year, the Preston County Drug Court opened April 20, the Southeastern Regional Drug Court opened on April 1 to serve Greenbrier and Pocahontas Counties, the Monongalia County Drug Court opened February 27, and the Kanawha County Drug Court opened May 13. The Northern Panhandle Drug Court, the West Central Drug Court, the Southern Regional Drug Court, and the Southwestern Regional Drug Court previously opened across the state. 

Adult drug courts in West Virginia may serve those who have been charged with non-violent misdemeanor or felony offenses, pled guilty or been found guilty of non-violent misdemeanors and felonies and who were motivated to commit those crimes due to substance abuse or addiction, or are probation violators due to substance abuse or addiction. 

Most West Virginia drug courts are operating as post-plea and probation violation drug courts. The juvenile and adult drug courts in Logan County are pre-adjudication programs. 

People can volunteer for the programs to reduce or avoid jail and prison sentences, if a judge so orders. Prosecutors must approve referrals made to the drug courts, and all participants must be evaluated as a low to moderate risk to be released back into the community. People registered as sex offenders are not eligible for these programs. Participants undergo substance abuse treatment and are heavily supervised by probation officers, law enforcement, and the drug court. If needed, they may also undergo treatment for mental illnesses. Participants may be forced to repeat certain phases of the program if they have positive drug screens or if they fail to cooperate. The judge may impose jail time if he or she feels it is therapeutically necessary to make a participant follow the protocol and be successful in drug court. 

The adult and juvenile drug courts in Logan County are funded by state forfeiture funds and by funding from the Logan County Commission and the West Virginia Supreme Court.