Reading the reference article took me back in thought to my first addiction related encounter with the law, I was charged with 30+ felonies and some various misdemeanors for burglarizing my Doctor’s office in a opioid driven panic after running out of pills. ( https://rjnews.is/2Jykn3 )
Police caught me after I went back in amid audible alarms, to get more drugs.
This landed me in a jail cell.
I was bailed out a short few hours later in my family’s first and only attempt at rescuing me.
This just served to fuel my drug-enhanced arrogance.
I spent a good deal of money on a good attorney and was on the top of the world, thinking that there was no consequence to my actions.
The best, good option my attorney had for me was a then fledgling program called 4th District Drug Court.
I now had the opportunity to have my charges postponed and with completion, eliminated.
I made it one day and the world that ego created for me began to unravel as I missed my first weekly court date, I wasn’t ready or willing to follow the rules and was kicked out.
Flash-forward in time 8 years, all of which was spent on probation, some was compulsory treatment and some was in jail cells.
During this time my use of substances devolved to the point of injection use of heroin and cocaine and my moral standing in society to the point of drug dealing and other non-violent criminal activity.
My ego inspired this process but through chemical means, I had literally become disconnected from my own will and was ruled by fear and compulsion.
When I eventually I go of my ego and began to get it, I began taking the gifts the alternative courts offered, I flourished.
I paid all of my fines, restitution and successfully completed what ended up being nearly 13 years of probation…all of which required me being out of jail to complete.
Alternative courts the answer for qualifying individuals and the proven key to the success of many like me.
I mentioned how the article brought this part of my story back, a reminder of how far I have come.
It was a reminder of how far the court system has come by offering more chances and not trying to enforce perfection.
It was also a stark reminder of the distance there is yet to go in the court of public opinion.
Will Allphin, Foundation for Recovery
