Pubdate: Sat, 08 Mar 2014 Source: Elko Daily Free Press (NV) Copyright: 2014 Elko Daily Free Press Contact: http://www.elkodaily.com/ Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/2326 Author: Joe Mang DRUG ADDICTS SLIPPING THROUGH THE CRACKS Editor: I'm writing in regard to your recent article about drug court. Over the past decade Nevada has taken a seriously active role in helping addicts overcome their struggles with tools like drug courts and mental health courts. Throughout the 1990s and 2000s the courts have sent addicts to prison, no questions asked, and prisons don't offer much rehabilitation unless you meet certain requirements. Now ex-felons with a drug problem are being called habitual offenders and deemed unsavable by a legal system that claims they are trying to help people, but our legal system will only try to help an addict if they are young and have no past. Drug court was designed to help all addicts, not just a certain type or age. For example, there is a Reno man who was a repeated drug offender. He was given a chance in drug court and he graduated and now has a beautiful family, owns a home and has his contractor's license and runs a respectable business. So the question I would like the community and court system to ask themselves is why are there so many people who have never been offered drug court slipping through the cracks? For many years Nevada has been a no-tolerance state until recently, but there is a large number of people in jail who are asking for help but they're just ran through the court system as quickly as possible and then sent to prison and one day they'll be released and may be still struggling with addiction. How much does someone have to ask for help before it's given? Joe Mang Elko - --- MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom