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The Review
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June 16, 2015 ROAD TO RECOVERY
Graduate: Program more than just ‘a way out’ Lee County Drug Court graduates 15th class in 10 years BY CHRISTI WARREN
DIXON – People were dressed up. There were speeches and a receiving line. There were smiles, tears, hugs, and cake. It was 4 p.m. Wednesday in Lee County Court – Judge Jacquelyn Ackert’s courtroom, to be specific, and it was packed. Everyone in the courtroom – family, friends, supporters – was there to celebrate the accomplishments of the five people sitting in the front of the courtroom: the June 2015 graduates of Lee County’s drug court. Three women and two men, all there for different addictions, made up the class of 2015. Smiling, proud, changed. This is the 10th year for Lee County’s drug court, and its accomplishments have been extraordinary, Lee County State’s Attorney Anna Sacco-Miller has said. Thirty-eight people
have successfully graduated, and the program has grown from just five participants in 2005 to 21 in 2014. Just 18 percent of those graduates have recidivated, which means that 82 percent haven’t. Some wanted to use their names for this story, and some didn’t. One of the women, Jenna, a 26-year-old Dixon woman and mother to a son, brought tears to the eyes of a number of audience members as she read a speech about what drug court, and finding sobriety after years of alcohol abuse, has meant for her. “I am now someone,� she said. She’s clean now. A 25-year-old woman from Dixon was there, arrested on a DUI charge in September 2013. She’s clean now. James Jameson, 21, also graduated Wednesday. He used to live in Dixon, but
has since moved to out at first, just Freeport. a way to get out “I’ve been in and of jail,â€? he said. out of rehab since “But, then, obviI was younger,â€? ously the prohe said, for using gram’s a little marijuana, cocaine, more intense. and hallucinogens. I realized that “I experimented a I couldn’t just Anna lot.â€? [fake] it.â€? He says drug court Sacco-Miller He said that has made him grow it took a few up. months of being in the “I was in that mindset program before he started where I could do what- thinking that maybe he ever I want and get away did have a problem. with everything,â€? he said. “I’d used everything,â€? he “That wasn’t true.â€? said. “The list of things I He’s clean now. haven’t done is probably “My family’s really smaller than the list of happy,â€? he said. things I have.â€? Josh, 31, lives in Dixon. He said his perspective He graduated Wednes- has changed. He looks day, too. toward the future now. He was first arrested for His parents were in the possession of marijuana, audience Wednesday. and had been using for 10 They’re proud of him. years, he said. He’s clean now. He’s clean now. Kelly Burrow is a treatA 25-year-old man, who didn’t want to say where A/C & PLUMBING SERVICE Residential • Commercial he’s from, was arrested for marijuana in 2014. “[Drug court] was a way
A safer place for addicts The Lee County law enforcement community is making strides to change the way people with drug addictions are prosecuted. First, though, is creating a safe space for addicts to go and ask for help without fear of being criminally charged. Though it’s still in its planning stages, said State’s Attorney Anna Sacco-Miller, the law enforcement community, along with KSB Hospital, is working to outline just such a program. “The idea is when someone is — when they finally decide, ‘OK, I need to quit. I need help’ – that they come in, that they turn in their equipment, we take them to the hospital, and they get treatment, they get help as quickly as possible.�
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opposed to the criminal aspect,� she said. “I can’t emphasize that enough.� “These are people that are struggling to turn their lives around,� she said. On Wednesday, they took a turn for the better.
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ment provider at Sinnissippi Centers, and she’s been part of the drug court team for about 3 years now. “It’s a huge difference once you actually get to know the people as
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Staci Stewart of the Lee County Probation Department talks with alumni of the drug court Wednesday after the program’s 15th graduation at the Lee County Courthouse in Dixon. Three women and two men, all there for different addictions, made up this year’s class.
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