WHEELING, W.Va. — A retired chief probation officer in West Virginia’s northern panhandle, working with circuit court and federal judges along with the U.S. attorney, will see the official grand opening of his first drug court Friday.
According to James Lee, who has 43 years of law enforcement experience, the heroin drug deaths in Hancock, Brooke and Ohio counties are on the rise.
“In the last 2 years we’ve had 290 people die from heroin overdoses. In the last 10 months in Weirton alone we’ve had 80 people die from heroin overdoses,” said Lee.
Lee, a criminal justice instructor at West Liberty University, said imprisoned heroin addicts have less of a chance of recovery than those who go through a regimented drug court program.
“It includes 3 to 5 drug tests a week, supervision every day and court review every week in phase 1,” said Lee. “So, it’s pretty intense.”
Friday is the official opening of the northern panhandle’s drug court scheduled for 2 p.m. at the federal courthouse in Wheeling. Lee said it’s an alternative to programs that may not work for some people.
“You don’t like what NA (narcotics anonymous), you walk away or you go into an inpatient program and you don’t like it, you walk away. In our program you can’t do that unless you want to go to jail,” explained Lee.
According to Lee, by 2016 there will be similar drug court programs in each of the state’s 32 circuit court regions. The program in Wheeling will run with an initial case load of 15 clients. A drug court treatment team meets weekly to review applicants to then make recommendations to judges on clients who may be referred to the program.
“If we don’t provide meaningful treatment, our kids are going to continue to die,” said Lee. “I know people say they’re drug addicts and they should die. That’s fine until it’s your son, daughter, family member or friend,” he said.
The northern panhandle was the first region in the state to implement an adult drug court dating back to 2003.