DRUG COURTS TRY TO END CYCLE OF ABUSE (Part 1)

According to a report from the National Institute on Drug Abuse, the economic cost of drug-related crime is about fifty billion dollars a year. Much of that amount goes toward incarcerating offenders. But many of these people are nonviolent, low-level drug users… and now, instead of locking them up, some court systems are trying a different approach. In the first of a two part series, the Great Lakes Radio Consortium’s Wendy Nelson examines the growing trend of drug courts:

ARE DRUG COURTS THE BEST APPROACH? (Part 2)

In 1989, the country’s first drug court was set up in Dade County, Florida. It was designed as a way to reduce prison overcrowding. Today, there are more than three hundred fifty drug courts operating around the country, with another two hundred in the planning stages. But not everyone’s happy with that growth. In the second of a two-part series, the Great Lakes Radio Consortium’s Wendy Nelson reports that some people are questioning whether courts are the best place to deal with substance abuse: