Judges: 'Specialized dockets' key resource in battle against drugs in Marion County

As the war on drugs continues to be waged across the country, judges in Marion County are taking advantage of different tools to help in that fight that involve much more than just convicting offenders and sending them to state prison.

During an opioid conference hosted Wednesday by Marion pastors Bishop Gregory Draper of Mount Zion Missionary Baptist Church and Bishop Corredon Rogers of New Hope Baptist Church, local court officials had the opportunity to explain how they're using what's known as "specialized dockets" to provide help for drug addicts.

The Supreme Court of Ohio defines a specialized docket as “a particular session of court that offers a therapeutically oriented judicial approach to providing court supervision and appropriate treatment to individuals.” The Supreme Court provides certification for the following types of special dockets: mental health courts, drug courts, OVI/DUI courts, drug-domestic violence courts, drug-re-entry courts, veterans courts, and family dependency treatment courts.

In Marion County, the Marion Municipal Court and Marion County Common Pleas Court each have a drug court that is available to select offenders. The Common Pleas Court drug court was established in 2013 and the Municipal Court drug court was reinstated in 2014.

Municipal Court also has specialized dockets for mental health (Wellness Intervention Court) and veterans treatment courts. Common Pleas Court also has a specialized docket for drug re-entry court.

"Those of us that handle specialized dockets, we're caught between two ideas, theories, or important statements," Marion Municipal Court Judge Teresa L. Ballinger told the audience on Wednesday. "Addiction is a disease and addiction is against the law. "So when we work with people through specialized dockets, we walk a fine line. We know that they've broken the law, but we know that they're addicted to a terrible drug and we want to support them.

"That's why we work hard in these specialized dockets. We work very hard to supply these individuals with resources. Resources help them turn their life around."

For example, Judge Ballinger said, the veterans treatment court provides the following resources for those assigned to it: benefits review with representatives from the Veterans Administration, facilitating meetings with counselors and treatment providers, meetings with social workers, as well as positive interaction with law enforcement officers and probation officers to provide further guidance for those involved in the program.

"These resources help them to help themselves to stay in sobriety, to stay in recovery," Judge Ballinger said. "That's why these specialized dockets are so important. And they're successful. They're more successful than anything else we've found. Even though drug courts maybe only have a 45% to 50% success rate, it's better than anything else we've found. That's why we continue to work with it. It's better to keep 50% of the people alive and healthy than none."

Common Pleas Court Judge Warren T. Edwards said the most important facet of drug court is placing the participants in treatment. He noted that he's encouraged by the growth in the number of treatment providers in Marion County since he took office in 2019.

"In the last three and a half, four years, there's been an absolute blooming of community resources here," Edwards said. "When I took office in 2019, there were only two state-certified treatment providers in Marion. We have more than tripled that now. There's at least seven and the number might be as high as 12. We are blessed with treatment providers who are accredited, certified. It used to be that there wasn't sufficient counselors to help everyone and that's not the case anymore.

"Because there used to be limited accessibility, you had a situation where you almost had to be court ordered to get into one of these treatment providers. That's not the case and I think that's something important for you to know. It doesn't take a criminal charge to get that help. You can now walk into one of the many treatment providers here in Marion and get help without a judge's order. Most insurance companies are now paying for that treatment."

Edwards encouraged those in the audience who know someone who is addicted to drugs to help them seek out treatment before they encounter law enforcement, are arrested, end up in court, and ultimately, possibly, go to prison.

"If you know someone that's using (drugs), make sure that they understand this - and this is the message that I have sent since my campaign - we can help addicts," Edwards stated. "We can help people that have the drug use problem. But in my courtroom there's a clear line. If you are a burglar, if you break into someone's house, your motivation for that burglary is secondary to the fact that you committed a serious felony crime. Whether you did it to feed your kids, pay your mortgage, or to feed your drug habit, that's a secondary factor to the fact that you committed this very serious type of crime.

"If you're using and you're charged with possession, those are the people that we look to put in drug court. But burglars don't go to drug court, they go to prison. And the same goes for drug dealers. So do not feed your habit by creating additional problems for others by dealing, because drug dealers, for the last three and a half years since I've been in office, are treated very harshly. If you push this poison on my fellow citizens, I will send you to prison for as long as I can."

James Boleyn, special dockets director for Marion Municipal Court, explained how courts measure the success of drug courts and other specialized dockets.

"Success means they reintegrate into the community as functioning members of our society," Boleyn explained. "So we define success as those who have not committed an additional offense after graduating from drug court, after being outside the sphere of influence of the court. That's what we want is them succeeding without the court. Eventually we're going to go away - and that's entire plan - so what we do is we approach it with the sense that we need to hold people accountable.

"The drug court uses that accountability with the motto that 'Do we want them to go to jail for committing crimes or do we want them to stop committing crimes?' We want them to stop committing crimes because we want them out there taking care of their families, working, interacting with the rest of us in ways that we can enjoy and be part of."

Boleyn said drug addiction produces a "ripple effect" in the community, in general having a negative effect on all those around that person. He cited a recent analysis of the drug courts in Marion County which revealed that the participants were responsible in some fashion for more than 200 minor children in the community.

Email: ecarter@gannett.com | Twitter: @AndrewACCarter

This article originally appeared on Marion Star: Judges: 'Specialized dockets' key in battle against drugs in Marion