"Drug court offers users a second chance"

From today's Rapid City (S.D.) Journal on the new Meade County Drug Court:

The participants in the program are varied, but all have one thing in
common: substance abuse. One is coming off a 4.0 grade-point-average semester at a local university just a year after living in her car. Another has been a sober and productive member of society for the past two years since staring at 12 years of hard time.

Participants are sent to drug court on the recommendation of the state’s attorney and by the discretion of the judge.

Candidates must be considered drug addicts and cannot be admitted into drug court if they have violent crimes in their past.

Once in the program, their lives are intensively scrutinized, strictly
monitored and highly directed. If participants progress, they can earn rewards, which may include reduced scrutiny, more individual choices and, ultimately, graduation from the program, as one individual did Friday.