'Drug court' offers addicts rehab instead of jail

The federal government is reviewing the country's most innovative anti-drug programs, including Winnipeg's Drug Treatment Court.

Launched in January 2006, the Winnipeg program targets people accused of non-violent offences motivated by addiction. Participants must plead guilty to their charges and work with the judge, Crown and defence counsels, a case manager and social service organizations on a treatment and rehabilitation plan.

Judge John Guy says his court tries to solve underlying problems.

"When you see the number of people who [are] back in front of you, record after record after record, you say, 'Something isn't working here,'" he said.

"There's some have mental health problems, they have learning problems … some have had sexual abuse backgrounds," he added. "If we had solved some of these other issues earlier along the line, we probably wouldn't have seen them in the criminal justice system."

People in the program agree to rehab, regular court appearances and random drug tests for about a year and must attend counselling and take steps to get a job. 

Graduates have their charges withdrawn or receive a sentence that does not include jail time. Participants who fail see their charges returned to the regular court system.

"I think it's more of a long-term solution," Guy said. "Short-term solution is, you can put them in jail and they'll come out and that's it, and some will be fine with that, they'll be able to adjust. But here, on these kinds of addictions, we think this will give a better chance of success."

Most don't complete program

Program manager Pat Simard said most participants don't complete the program, but she still considers it a success.

"All of our 10 graduates have not reoffended. We have contact with almost all of them fairly frequently and we know they're also clean," she said.

"We also know a large number of them are employed, so they're not in jail, they're not in the criminal justice system and they are paying taxes."

Gilles Nault said the program worked for him. He had tried to kick his drug habit before attending drug treatment court, but had no success, he told CBC News.

'I tried to clean up when my daughter was born," he said. "It kind of sounds shitty, but it wasn't enough."

Then Nault was caught stealing from his employer. He couldn't face another stint in prison, he said, so he signed up for the drug court instead.

"I was just going there just to get myself out of jail," he said. "I wasn't really serious about it at first."

But Nault said the program helped him succeed, and he's been drug-free for months.

"I wake up in the morning and I like who I'm looking at," he said. "I don't want to use drugs anymore."

This week, the drug treatment court expects to hand certificates to two more graduates.

The federal government is looking to complete its evaluation of the program and others like it by next spring.

"We've been successful [with] a number of people, but does it justify the amount and time and effort? That's why we're doing an evaluation with respect to the program, to see whether or not it's worthwhile from that point of view," said Guy.

"We have one man who committed 14 break and enters. Well, he's graduated and … if we can prevent him from doing that number of break and enters, then I think we've been successful. Certainly the people whose houses he broke into would say that's worth the time and effort."