Foust: Drug Court worth the time and investment

Marshall County Drug Court staffers include (from left) Shelly Groves, program supervisor; Jeanie Carson, recovery coordinator; and Circuit Judge Dennis Foust.
Marshall County Drug Court staffers include (from left) Shelly Groves, program supervisor; Jeanie Carson, recovery coordinator; and Circuit Judge Dennis Foust.

BENTON – As he prepares to step down after serving more than 25 years on the bench, Circuit Judge Dennis Foust considers Marshall County Drug Court – which he helped establish in 2006 – as one of the great achievements that occurred during his career.

The program, which diverts selected individuals from the usual trial-and-incarceration track into a rehabilitation process, began as a pilot program for Marshall and Calloway counties.

“Then the state came in in 2007 and supported it,” he said. “It’s a great program. It’s worth my time and my investment. It’s worth the state’s investment.”

A separate Drug Court for Marshall County was launched in 2014, Foust said.

“It was a bit of a hardship for Marshall County participants to go to Murray,” Foust said. “Last year we were able to divide those groups.”

Participants enter guilty pleas to the charges they face, but instead of being sentenced to prison time, they focus on an effort to get their lives back on a substance-free track. They enter the program through a variety of portals.

“Sometimes their attorney will make a motion,” Foust said, adding that families will often make a request for diversion and that he sometimes inquires why a defendant is not in Drug Court. Candidates undergo an evaluation.

“There are some who think that Drug Court is a get-out-of-jail-free ticket,” Foust said. “It is not.”

Participants must get and keep a job, go to weekly meetings, have counseling, undergo random drug screenings, meet every week with the Drug Court judge.

They are under supervision of the Drug Court judge, the prosecutor, a law enforcement component and the Drug Court supervisor, program director and other staff. Completion of the program takes about two years, divided into four phases.

The first phase lasts six to nine months, and as participants make progress, they move on to second and third phases, each time advancing into a status with fewer restriction and less supervision. The final phase is Aftercare, which lasts six months, Foust said.

Those who complete the program have their charges dropped and go on unsupervised probation.

The Drug Court judge may be the district court judge in some districts, Foust said, while others use a circuit judge.

“It’s a voluntary thing,” he said. “It’s something that I take on because I believe in the program. Yes, I put in a little extra work here, but hopefully I’m saving work out of the criminal justice system. It’s worthwhile because you see the success of the individuals.”

Foust expresses a sincere conviction in the potential for success.

“It works,” he said, “when an individual gets exposed to the program and realizes, ‘I want to live substance free.’ We have coordinators who deal with them on a daily basis. Sometimes they don’t buy in right at first, and we have to be strict with them.”

Progress is never perfect, Foust said.

“We understand that substance abuse, whether it’s alcohol, whether it’s methamphetamine, whether it’s heroin, marijuana, cocaine, whatever it is – relapse is part of that process. How they deal with relapse is the key answer,” he said.

According to the state, Kentucky Drug Court is administered through the Administrative Office of the Courts in Frankfort, which oversees 55 adult programs that serve 115 counties.

For every $1 spent on Drug Court graduates, the state claims it saves $2.72 on what it would have spent on incarcerating these individuals. Improvements that have been measured include a reduction in drug use and related criminal activity, lowered levels of repeat offenders, increased payments of delinquent child support and improved employment rates.

According to the latest statistics available online, as of June 30, 2012, 5,370 individuals had graduated from Drug Court programs statewide and participants had paid $3.5 million in child support and $3.9 million in court obligations, including restitution and fines.

The message Foust tries to impart to Drug Court participates is a personal one – how much he cares about their successful rehabilitation. The key is for them to begin to care about themselves as much as the Drug Court staff members care about them.

“I guess what I like about Drug Court is it’s more hands-on,” he said. “And I get a chance to know these people better. Yes, I’m still the judge, and yes, they are still the participant. But we break down barriers. Hopefully they see me as a human being who also has doubts. I’m not looking down on them.”

Foust noted the judicial system’s responsibility to see that the public is protected. Drug Court, he believes, contributes to the fulfillment of that duty.

“Because we do monitor them, we do reduce the risk to the public,” he said.

Drug Court’s mission is to help them get to the point that they want to be substance-free, rather than having their lives ruled by the substance.

“That’s the attitude they have to internalize. And when they do, they can make it,” Foust said.

“It could have been me. It could have been you. Any life we save, it’s worth it.”