Substance Abuse Recovery Court Seeks Community Support
Pete Cucinotta
An advisory board set up to maintain St. Mary’s County Adult Drug Court first renamed it and is now setting about informing the community of that court’s importance.
The newly christened Substance Abuse Recovery Court selects repeat offenders to participate in the nationally acclaimed court-run program. So-called drug courts are designed to stop recidivism among hard core addicts who are criminals only as a result of their addictions.
Established with a three-year federal grant, St. Mary’s County runs an exemplary adult drug court, ranking high among national program standards. As an established program, St. Mary’s no longer qualifies for federal start-up funds. These funds included many program incidentals, such as thousands of drug tests among a large variety of treatment, health-related and social service needs.
The advisory board was appointed by Circuit Court Judge Karen Abrams, the presiding judge of the SARC. In June the advisory board called upon civic organizations of St. Mary’s County to learn about the court, its importance in combating recidivism in St. Mary’s County, its tax savings and its immediacy to every family in the county.
Pete Cucinotta is the coordinator of both the Substance Abuse Recovery Court for adults and St. Mary’s County’s Teen Drug Court. Here he is introduced by Circuit Court Judge Karen Abrams and explains how the court operates.
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZkEabUG8zzA]
Substance Abuse Advisory Board members include John Knight Parlett, Tracy Harris, Cynthia Jones, John Wood, Robert Elrod, Frank Taylor, Tom McKay and Viki Volk.
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