If you reside in Texas and are currently facing a drug-related charge, you may have justifiable concerns about the possible repercussions you may face, if convicted. Fines, time behind bars and community service are just a few of the many possible consequences you may face for a drug conviction, but rarely do these penalties address what is often the root of the problem itself: your drug addiction.
Drug courts, however, do exactly that, with the National Association of Drug Court Professionals reporting that almost 50 percent of today’s American inmates have genuine, clinical addiction issues. Whether drug court, which is, in some cases, an alternative to imprisonment, will be available to you depends on several factors, among them your criminal history, charge details and geographic location. What is clearer, however, is the positive effects drug courts have on so many criminal offenders fighting addiction.
For example, drug courts are six times more likely than probation and similar programs to keep addicts clean long enough for them to truly beat their addictions. Drug courts also have proven, sizable effects on crime, with only about 16 percent of graduates returning to the prison system within a year after completing the program.
If your addiction issues stem from methamphetamine use, drug courts may also be what you need to fight your addiction once and for all. Studies who that those who participate in drug court are 50 percent less likely to abuse methamphetamine than addicts who attended outpatient treatment, only.
This information about the effectiveness of drug courts is educational in nature, but it is not a substitute for legal advice.
