Judge Williams chats with mentor Corey
NEWBURGH – The graduates of this year’s Newburgh Drug Court, from both the veterans’ and traditional tracks, celebrated with Drug Court workers, elected officials, and their families Wednesday afternoon for their successful completion of the program and having their lives changed for the better because of it.
Drug Court in Newburgh has been around for about 10 years and is a way
for qualifying individuals with drug crimes, to get the help they need,
rather than being placed into the criminal justice system. The program
is multi-faceted consisting of case workers, 12-step work, groups and
medical treatments, said City Court Judge E. Loren Williams.
“Probably the most important thing we are doing is educating the masses about the choice of drug court. You would be surprised how many people really don’t know that that’s an option for them,” Williams said. “So, we try to get the word out that people have choices. You don’t have to keep living that lifestyle and people will help you.”
Judge Williams said the program exists to get those individuals who have
the potential to contribute in the community back on the right path.
“It’s nice to see people who’ve stumbled get back on their feet and move on with their lives, and that’s really what this program is about,” Williams said. “I mean, the entire premise would be, ‘Am I my brother’s keeper’; we help out the people in our community to make our community a better place and that’s what we do here.”
Currently, the traditional track for Newburgh’s Drug Court has an above 50 percent success rate and the new veterans track has shown 100 percent success, thus far, in its first two programs.
