Kosciusko County Drug Court celebrated its 50th graduate Monday with a reception and remarks.
Circuit Court Judge Mike Reed presides over the drug court program and called Monday a special day and that the county’s program is successful, important and needed.
“Everybody on the drug court team has been trained in the drug court program and are serious about helping people,” Reed said. He said drug court began 30 years ago by a group of judges in Dade County, Fla., who were handling substance abuse offenses.
“These judges saw people getting arrested, released and rearrested,” Reed said. “Essentially, serving a life sentence 30 days at a time. Drug courts work when we follow the model and work it.”
Reed said drug court is for non-violent substance abusing offenders who are also at a high risk to re-offend or to fail other court-ordered supervision.
“We follow the best practice standards, we do the best we can to tailor everyone’s program to their needs and give people an opportunity to change their lives if they want to do that,” Reed said. “It’s effective. It’s the most effective treatment there is, and it’s cost effective.”
Scott Farmer, of Syracuse, was the 50th drug court participant to graduate since the program started here in January 2014. There are 29 active participants in the program.
“Recovery is not an event, it’s a process,” said Reed. “So, he’s gonna keep moving on in his process. I think Scott’s a great example of the 49 other graduates, what they’ve done, what they’ve accomplished. He’s been drug free since Sept. 5, 2017.”
“That’s the longest I’ve ever been sober,” Farmer said. “I never thought I wanted to be sober before, and now, I don’t think about doing drugs at all. I could never go back to that.”
“You either get it or you don’t. The light either comes on or it doesn’t,” Reed said. “But a ‘boring life’ isn’t that bad. As always, I learn some things from everyone, and I learned some things from you.”
Farmer’s wife, Amy, was in attendance and said the program has been great for their entire family, including their two children.
“We’ve lived a good life for the last four years,” she said. “He’s a different person. I’ve been married to him for 19 years. This program has been amazing.”
Warsaw City Councilwoman Diane Quance said she was excited to see people having the opportunity to change their lives.
“This didn’t seem like a courtroom. People were proud to be here instead of ashamed to be here,” she said of Monday’s celebration.
“Everybody’s worked hard, we’re looking forward to more success stories, and we want to keep the program running, because it’s for everybody,” Reed said.
Maggie Brauer, drug court program coordinator, said Scott is dedicated to his family and taking care of them.
“He did what he needed to do to get what he needed to get out of it,” she said.
