I never thought I would say that attending a Superior Court session in Forsyth County would be an uplifting occasion, but it truly was moving.
That’s because 11 individuals who were charged with drug offenses, and who agreed to enroll in the demanding requirements of Drug Court, graduated in June and had the criminal charges against them removed from their record.
The person who has led the court since its inception in 2004 is Chief Superior Court Judge Jeffrey S, Bagley. For him, getting offenders back on track and giving them a new lease on life is a program he describes as “a passion.”
The graduation, as it’s called, follows about two years of counseling, random drug and alcohol testing and intense supervision. The people who “graduated” were alcohol, methamphetamine, Ecstasy, marijuana or heroin users – some abused them all.
During the 90-minute session, Bagley identified each by their first name only. He would describe their road to perdition and their struggles along the way to sobriety. As he called each one to say a few words, he held their arm high in the air in the way a referee holds up the arm of a champion boxer.
Every story was compelling! The courtroom was packed with relatives of the participants. In the interest of brevity I’ll tell you about two. And, since the court has a policy of using first names only, the AJC has complied with a request to also use just first names:
Robin was a competitive swimmer with enough talent to go to the Olympics. She had her first drink at 15 and eventually descended into a dependency on drugs so bad that the court put her in a residential rather than outpatient treatment. Graduation night also happened to be Robin’s mother’s birthday and mom exclaimed before the crowd. “This is the best birthday present ever!”
Another was Mitchell, a young man in his twenties from North Carolina who attended the U.S. Naval Academy. Suffering from bouts of depression, he was forced to leave the academy and came to Cumming to live with his grandparents.
Mitchell started making bad choices and began using marijuana before getting hooked on Ecstasy and heroin. He lost everything and, like Robin, needed residential treatment. A thankful young man, Mitchell said of his grandparents – “They’ve been with me all the way despite what I put them through.” His grandmother told him and the audience she was glad to have him back and said, “I’ll be there for you forever.”
As a reminder of where they’ve been and how far they’ve come, each graduate is given a plaque with two photos, one post-addiction and another with their mug shot on the night they were arrested.
A family member of one participant summed it up succinctly, “What you’re doing is more than healing addiction you’re healing families.”
About the Author
