The Office of the Anne Arundel County State’s Attorney, Wes Adams, co-hosted a graduation ceremony for 11 participants from Anne Arundel County’s Circuit Court Adult Drug Treatment initiative (or “Drug Court”) today at 2pm. This is the largest graduating class ever and the 10th anniversary of the program. This initiative is a collaborative effort among the Circuit Court, the State’s Attorney’s Offices, the Office of the Public Defender, the Division of Parole and Probation, and the Department of Health.
“I am a proud partner of our Drug Court initiative and happy for each of our graduates today,” said Anne Arundel County State’s Attorney Wes Adams. “Good news comes in various forms in our line of work, but when we can focus on solving the causes of criminal behavior in our non-violent drug offenders, we not only return a productive citizen to the community, we also reduce the many crimes associated with drug addiction.”
The first client who participated in the Circuit Court for Anne Arundel County Adult Drug Treatment Court program entered in 2005; the first graduation was in 2007. Since its inception, the program has had 164 graduates. In addition to saving lives and deterring victimization and recidivism, the Adult Drug Court Treatment program saves money. Presently, there are 89 people in the Anne Arundel County drug court system. To house an inmate, it costs about $100 per day or $36,000 per year. Ultimately, to house these 89 participants for one year, the cost would exceed $3 million. By contrast, the Adult Drug Court program costs approximately $330,000 for one year, including treatment.
This initiative works to improve our community through enhanced public safety by providing judicially supervised treatment to substance abuse offenders, thereby reducing the social and economic costs of criminal activity. Relationships with other community agencies such as the Anne Arundel County Detention Center, Goodwill Industries of the Chesapeake and the many local treatment providers are considered vital to the success of the program. For more information, please visit: http://www.circuitcourt.org/learn-about/drug-treatment-court
The event featured a powerful speaker, Korey Shorb, a former Drug Court participant from Frederick, MD, as well as life-changing stories from each of the 11 graduates.
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