Inside This Issue
Volume 3, Issue 1March 2013
A Publication by the
2013 Officersand Directors
Tennessee Association of Drug Court Professionals
DavidsonJudges Host Benjamin Tucker2Coordinator Trainingat Paris Landing2Prescription DrugTake-Back Day323rd District TADCPDay on the Hill3The President’sCorner327th Judicial District10th Anniversary4MembershipApplication4
PresidentMary SchneiderVice PresidentTracye BryantTreasurerBrad PriceSecretaryRick TaylorWest Tennessee DirectorAngela ParkersonMiddle Tennessee DirectorMarianne SchroerEast Tennessee DirectorJudge Charles CernyAt Large DirectorsRon HanaverKevin BattsJill Barrett
At the Board of Director’smeeting on March 22nd, themembers agreed to hire MarieCrosson as the part-timeDirector of TADCP. It is theBoard’s desire that by havinga Director, TADCP willbecome the professionalorganization that we all hopefor. Mrs. Crosson has shownus by her work with OCJP andas the Conference Planner lastyear that she has the energy,the know- how, and the spiritthat TADCP needs to move usto the next level.Mrs. Crosson will be work-ing with the Board on strate-gic planning, membershipdrives, getting the websiteready to go live, and possiblygrants and other types of fund-ing resources. Of course, shewill also be working withDMHSAS to continue to buildour relationship. And thenthere is that conference!Please welcome Marie andsend her any ideas, thoughtsor suggestions you may haveto:
By the early 1990’s, the scientific commu-nity had concluded from rigorous laboratoryand epidemiological studies that marijuana isphysiologically and psychologically addictive.Every drug of abuse has what is called adependence liability, which refers to the statis-tical probability that a person who uses thatdrug for nonmedical purposes will develop acompulsive addiction. Based upon severalnationwide epidemiological studies, marijua-na’s dependence liability has been reliablydetermined to be 8 to 10 percent (Anthony etal., 1994; Brook et al., 2008; Budney &Moore, 2002;Kandel et al., 1997; Munsey,2010; Wagner &Anthony, 2002). This meansthat one out of every 10 to 12 people who usemarijuana will become addicted to the drug.Importantly, the dependence liability of anydrug increases with more frequent usage.Individuals who have used marijuana at leastfive times have a 20 to 30 percent likelihood of becoming addicted to the drug, and those whouse it regularly have a 40 percent likelihood of becoming addicted (Budney & Moore, 2002).Based on this substantial body of empiricalresearch, the American Psychiatric Association(APA) has long recognized cannabis depend-ence as a valid and reliable psychiatric disorderin the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM). The DSM is the offi-cial psychiatric diagnostic classification systemin the U.S. A diagnosis of cannabis depend-ence has been continuously included in the 3rdand 4th editions of the DSM since 1980 (APA,1980, 1987, 1994, 2000). In the soon-to-bepublished 5th edition of the DSM, a cannabiswithdrawal syndrome will now also be official-ly recognized as part of the diagnostic criteriafor cannabis dependence.Two recent meta-analyses (advanced statis-tical procedures) have concluded that marijua-na use during adolescence or young adulthoodsignificantly predicts later involvement in crim-inal activity and criminal arrests (Bennett etal., 2008; Pedersen & Skardhamar, 2010). Therisk of criminal involvement was determined tobe between 1.5 and 3.0 times greater forcannabis users than for non-users.By far the greatest influence was on drug-possession offenses. However, cannabis usewas also found to predict a wider range of criminal activity, including involvement in anytype of criminal offense; and any type of drug-related offense, including drug dealing, manu-facturing and smuggling (Pedersen &Skardhamar, 2010).2 The results suggest that,all else being equal, cannabis users are at a sta-tistically increased risk for associating withantisocial individuals, engaging in ille-gal conduct, and eventually getting acriminal record.Recommendations to Drug Courts:Marijuana is an intoxicating and addic-tive drug that poses serious medicalrisks akin to those of nicotine and alco-hol. Although some physicians mayconsider it to have palliative indica-tions, no national or regional medicalor scientific organization recognizesmarijuana as a medicine in its raw orsmoked form. If marijuana becomesdecriminalized or legalized in a given jurisdiction, this does not necessarilyrequire Drug Court practitioners toabide its usage by their participants.The courts have long recognizedrestrictions on the use of a legal intoxi-cating substance (i.e., alcohol) to be areasonable condition of bond or proba-tion where the offender has a history of illicit drug involvement. If there is arational basis for believing cannabis usecould threaten public safety or prevent theoffender from returning to court for adjudica-tion, appellate courts are likely to uphold suchrestrictions in the Drug Court context.Individuals who possess a letter from aphysician and/or a valid state-issued ID cardfor marijuana present a more challenging issue,but one that is probably also not insurmount-able. If judges make these decisions based ona reasonable interpretation of medical evidencepresented by qualified experts, it seems unlike-ly that Drug Courts — which were specificallydesigned to treat seriously addicted individuals— could not restrict access to an intoxicatingand addictive drug as a condition of criminal justice supervision.Dr. Doug Marlowe
TADCP W
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Drug CourtCoordinatorsTraining
June 5-7, 2013Paris Landing State ParkParis, Tennessee
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Davidson County Judges Daniel B.Eisenstein and Seth W. Norman host-ed the Deputy Director for State andLocal Affairs of theWhite House Officeof National DrugPolicy, BenjaminTucker, at a gradua-tion of the DC4 pro-gram. DC4, whichstands for ‘DavidsonCounty Drug Court– DevelopingCharacter DuringConfinement’, is asentencing alterna-tive for addicted non-violent felonyoffenders.The overall structure of DC4 includes a residential programfor offenders from the Mental HealthCourt who suffer from severe and per-sistent co-occurring mental health andsubstance abuse disorders.Tuckertoured the DC4Residential DrugCourt Facility,attended a meetingwith top state offi-cials, was presentfor the graduationceremony, andheard testimonyfrom programgraduates. Theprogram hasbecome one of themost comprehensive problem-solvingcourts in the United States. Since itbegan in 1996, more than 600 peoplehave successfully completed DC4;100% of graduates go on to obtainemployment, and many continue tomeet weekly for support long aftercompleting the pro-gram. DC4 helpsoffenders deal withtheir addiction, findsupport, and getback on their feet. Priorto the availability of DC4, manywould have found themselves back in jail, homeless, and/or still addicted todrugs.
Since it began in 1996,more than 600 people have successfully completed DC4; 100% of graduates go on to obtain employment...
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The Tennessee 2013, Drug CourtCoordinator Training is scheduled forJune 5th – 7th at Paris Landing StatePark. Paris Landing State Park islocated in the western middle part of the state on the beautiful TennesseeRiver/Kentucky Lake. Take a look atall the activities the park has to offerby going to:
http://www.tn.gov/envi-ronment/parks/ParisLanding/
or todownload a park brochure:
http://www.tn.gov/environment/parks/brochures/pdf/parislanding.pdf
.This year’s training will include ses-sions on Drug Court Best Practices;Developing Ethic Codes for DrugCourt Teams; Legal Primer –Interpreting Lawyer Language;Adding Specialty Tracks to your DrugCourt Program. DMHSAS plans tospend time on the TN WITS dataentry, Drug Court Funding for FY 14,Certification and Re-CertificationProcess, Drug Court Goals, and of course, plenty of time for networkingand learning from one another. Therewill be a BBQ supper on Thursdaynight for all to enjoy and maybe evena few prizes. Hopefully the weatherwill cooperate so we can enjoy theterrace overlooking the lake and allthat the park has to offer.Remember it is very important toget the RSVP form to Liz byWEDNESDAY, MAY 8TH 3:00 CSTand to make your own reservations. If you have any questions or need assis-tance please contact Liz Ledbetter at615-532-3411 or [email protected]v.Looking forward to a great turn outand informative training for all!
Left to right: Judge Daniel B. Eisenstein, Judge SethW. Norman, Corrections Commissioner DerekSchofield, Deputy Director Benjamin Tucker, Safetyand Homeland Security Director Bill Gibbons, andMental Health and Substance Abuse ServicesCommissioner Doug Varney.
Don’t forget to RSVP by Wednesday, May 8th by 3:00 CST and to make your own reservations.
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Here it is…almost Spring and Thank Goodness! Allof us and I’m sure all of you have been experiencingevery sickness coming down the pike! It will be won-derful to get outside again and leave all this sicknessbehind!We started our year off very well. The TADCP DayOn The Hill was very successful. We could have usedmore of you there, but maybe next year. I enjoyed meet-ing many new people and seeing everybody work so hardto get the word out about drug courts. We really had ateam of warriors that day! Thanks to all of you that cameand participated. A special thanks to Marianne Schroerand Jeri Holladay-Thomas for their hard work on thisevent.I am diligently working on our new website. I think everyone will be pleased. Hopefully it will be userfriendly and have lots of information that is useful to you.I will let you know when we go “live”. I am still open toany suggestions or things you would like to see on thewebsite.The Board of Directors for TADCP has hired MarieCrosson to be our Conference Planner again this year.Marie has already contacted several speakers and isworking with NDCI to utilize their Speakers Bureau.Changes will be made this year based on your evalua-tions. However, overall, everyone seemed very pleasedwith our line-up last year and with the conference in gen-eral. Embassy Suites will be our venue again. I knowsome of you don’t like the time of year that we are hav-ing our conference, but Embassy is giving us a great rateon our rooms and we can’t get that rate any other time.Without that rate, many of you wouldn’t be able to come.We also have to compete with Judicial Conferences, DAConferences and PD Conferences. So we hope you willcontinue to support our conference in December.Liz Ledbetter with DMHSAS is working hard on theCoordinators Training in June. Let her know if you havea particular subject you need some training on, or anyactivities that we should do during the conference. Thisis always a great conference and the Coordinators reallyenjoy getting together and learning from each other.Remember, TADCP is YOUR organization. Let usknow how we are doing. Contact your Director and shareyour ideas with them. We work for you and your drugcourt. Thank you for allowing us to serve and representyou. DRUG COURTS WORK!Regards,Mary Schneider, LAPSW
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On February 19th, a large group of drugcourt professionals descended on CapitolHill to visit our representatives and spreadthe word about the good works that drugcourt do in the State of Tennessee.Marianne Schroer (Coordinator, 21stJudicial District) graciously hauled 135 bagsof goodies from Meridee’s Bakery inFranklin, into the Legislative Plaza. I under-stand she had some help from the folks atTDOT! Each bag of goodies had a lusciouspecan sticky bun coffee cake and a bag of assorted cookies paid for by your TADCPmembership dues. A “Drug Court Facts”card was attached to each bag stating ouraccomplishments for FY 2011-2012. Ourmission was to deliver a bag of goodies toeach legislator, which we accomplished!I would like to thank the drug court pro-fessionals that showed up and really workedhard to see their representatives and talk tothem about drug courts. Thanks to JillBarrett (10th Judicial District), Barbara KingLadd, Heather Walsh, Michel Reynolds,Lindsay Konrad (12th Judicial District), Rick Taylor (23rd Judicial District), MarianneSchroer (21st Judicial District), MarySchneider (16th Judicial District), DonnaVize (13th Judicial District), Tracye Bryant,John Merryman (Sumner County), JeriHolladay-Thomas, Judge Seth Norman (DC4Nashville) and Cynthia Richards(Montgomery County).All of us spent time talking to our repre-sentatives about the changes in judicial dis-tricts, more funding for drug courts, theGovernor’s Safety Plan and much more. Therepresentatives LOVED the goodies (as didtheir secretaries)! For as crazy as theLegislative offices are this time of year, Ithink we made a good impression. The gen-eral consensus was that this was a good ideaand should be repeated next year. We hopemore of you will join us next year!The Drug Enforcement Administration(DEA) has scheduled another NationalPrescription Drug Take-Back Day which willtake place on Saturday, April 27, 2013, from10:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m. This is a greatopportunity for those who missed the previ-ous events, or who have subsequently accu-mulated unwanted, unused prescriptiondrugs, to safely dispose of those medica-tions.In the four previous Take-Back events,DEA in conjunction with our state, local,and tribal law enforcement partners havecollected more than 2 million pounds (1,018tons) of prescription medications wereremoved from circulation.The National Prescription Drug Take-Back Day aims to provide a safe, convenient, andresponsible means of disposal, while alsoeducating the general public about the poten-tial for abuse of these medications. Shortlyafter DEA‚s first Take-Back Day event twoyears ago, Congress passed, and PresidentObama signed, the Secure and ResponsibleDrug Disposal Act of 2010, which amendedthe Controlled Substances Act (CSA), allow-ing DEA to develop permanent, ongoing,and responsible methods for disposal. Priorto the passage of the Disposal Act, the CSAprovided no legal means for transferring pos-session of controlled substance medicationsfrom users to other individuals for disposal.On December 21, 2012, DEA published inthe Federal Register a Notice of ProposedRulemaking for Disposal of ControlledSubstances. These regulations would imple-ment the Secure and Responsible DrugDisposal Act of 2010 (Pub. L. 111-273) byexpanding the options available to collectcontrolled substances from ultimate users forpurposes of disposal to include:Take-Back events, mail-back programs,and collection receptacle locations. However,until these regulations become permanent,DEA will continue to hold Take-Back Days.Check with your local law enforcementagency to see if they are doing one of theseevents and partner with them! Great oppor-tunity to network and educated people aboutyour drug court!
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