"Drug Court changes lives"

From The Journal News (N.Y.):

When "Stan" entered the White Plains Drug Court program in 2004, "he was a disheveled, emaciated heroin addict from the jail cells and streets of White Plains," City Judge JoAnn Friia recalled.

"I don't think he'd been sober for one day in his entire adult life," she said. "We had to send him to detox for six months, just to get him well enough to participate in the program. We told him that if he didn't do this, he would die."

By the time he graduated from Drug Court in 2006, after 29 months of rehab, counseling and meeting the goals and requirements set by a team that included prosecution and defense lawyers, case coordinators and treatment representatives, Stan - his real name is George Brunner - had returned to college and turned his life around.

Two years later, he has graduated with high honors from Westchester Community College, where he served as student body president. He recently received a scholarship to George Washington University, where he plans to study political science and then pursue a law degree.