{"id":29224,"date":"2018-01-25T11:12:27","date_gmt":"2018-01-25T17:12:27","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/?p=29224"},"modified":"2018-12-20T11:28:52","modified_gmt":"2018-12-20T17:28:52","slug":"why-oklahoma-has-no-misdemeanor-drug-courts-even-though-the-law-allows-them","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/2018\/01\/25\/why-oklahoma-has-no-misdemeanor-drug-courts-even-though-the-law-allows-them\/","title":{"rendered":"Why Oklahoma Has No Misdemeanor Drug Courts, Even Though The Law Allows Them"},"content":{"rendered":"<div id=\"attachment_29229\"  class=\"wp-caption module image alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 620px;\"><a class=\"fancybox\" title=\"Rachel Wachel after a court appearance in the Oklahoma County Courthouse in January 2018.\" href=\"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/files\/2018\/01\/Wachel-pic_WEB.jpg\" rel=\"\"><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\"size-large wp-image-29229\" src=\"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/files\/2018\/01\/Wachel-pic_WEB-620x413.jpg\" alt=\"Rachel Wachel after a court appearance in the Oklahoma County Courthouse in January 2018.\" width=\"620\" height=\"413\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-media-credit\">Quinton Chandler \/ StateImpact Oklahoma<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-caption-text\">Rachel Wachel after a court appearance in the Oklahoma County Courthouse in January 2018.<\/p>\n<\/div><p>Twenty years is a long time to live with a drug addiction, but Rachel Wachel has done it. She tends bar, has a house and a car \u2014 and calls herself a functioning addict.<\/p><p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/w.soundcloud.com\/player\/?url=https%3A\/\/api.soundcloud.com\/tracks\/388970253&color=%23ff5500&auto_play=false&hide_related=true&show_comments=false&show_user=true&show_reposts=false&show_teaser=false\" width=\"100%\" height=\"150\" frameborder=\"no\" scrolling=\"no\"><\/iframe><\/p><p><!--more--><\/p><p>\u201cI\u2019m very open and honest about it because what do you do besides try to work with it the best way you can,\u201d she says, exiting an an Oklahoma County courtroom.<\/p><p>Wachel\u2019s lawyer is working to get her a suspended sentence for a misdemeanor drug possession charge. She\u2019s addicted to opiate painkillers and says she takes half a pill three times a day.<\/p><p>\u201cI was on my way to take a computer to my girlfriend and got pulled over,\u201d she says. \u201c[I] told them that I had them on me because they asked and I just have always been honest and two pills \u2014 they took me to jail.\u201d<\/p><p>Oklahoma criminal justice reform may be leaving drug courts behind. Voters in 2016 approved <a href=\"https:\/\/www.apnews.com\/34dff70081024d8fb452c0a463378580\">two state questions<\/a> that reclassified some low-level drug crimes as misdemeanors instead of felonies. The hope was that more drug users would stay out of prison and get treatment.<\/p><p>But, in Oklahoma, you can\u2019t get into drug court unless you have a felony.<\/p>\n<h3>\u2018Drug court is not treatment\u2019<\/h3><p>Before State Question 780 became law, Wachel would\u2019ve been looking at a felony, and that felony could\u2019ve gotten her a spot in drug court \u2014 not that she wants one.<\/p><p>\u201cIf I was facing jail time and I had to do drug court, I would do drug court,\u201d but, Wachel says, \u201cdrug court is not treatment.\u201d<\/p><p>The Oklahoma Department of Mental Health and Substance Abuse Services reports drug court graduates are much less likely to go to prison than the average former inmate.<\/p><p>State mental health and drug abuse officials are looking closer at drug court participants since the law changed. They say nearly a quarter of those charged with felonies in recent years would be charged with misdemeanors if they were arrested for the same crimes today. That means they wouldn\u2019t have made the cut for drug court.<\/p>\n<div id=\"attachment_29228\"  class=\"wp-caption module image alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 620px;\"><a class=\"fancybox\" title=\"Attorney and former Oklahoma lawmaker Ben Sherrer prepares for court at Pryor Creek City Hall in January 2018.\" href=\"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/files\/2018\/01\/Sherrer-pic_WEB.jpg\" rel=\"\"><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\"size-large wp-image-29228\" src=\"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/files\/2018\/01\/Sherrer-pic_WEB-620x432.jpg\" alt=\"Attorney and former Oklahoma lawmaker Ben Sherrer prepares for court at Pryor Creek City Hall in January 2018.\" width=\"620\" height=\"432\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-media-credit\">Quinton Chandler \/ StateImpact Oklahoma<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-caption-text\">Attorney and former Oklahoma lawmaker Ben Sherrer prepares for court at Pryor Creek City Hall in January 2018.<\/p>\n<\/div><p>The reason why leads from Oklahoma County to Pryor Creek, and the office of attorney Ben Sherrer.<\/p><p>Sherrer is a former state representative. In 2008, he <a href=\"http:\/\/webserver1.lsb.state.ok.us\/cf_pdf\/2007-08%20ENR\/hB\/HB2522%20ENR.PDF\">co-sponsored a bill<\/a> that made it possible for drug courts to adjudicate misdemeanor cases. The law originally only allowed felony offenders in drug court.<\/p><p>Sherrer hoped the legislation would help capture cases filed against people with drug problems so they could get treatment \u201cbefore they became felony offenders.\u201d<\/p><p>The bill was popular. It received unanimous support in both the House and Senate. Sherrer says the legislation looked great on paper but, in reality, it didn\u2019t do much.<\/p><p>\u201cI can\u2019t cite a single specific instance where a misdemeanor offender was actually placed into a drug court,\u201d he says.<\/p><p>He thinks that\u2019s partly because before SQ 780 passed, most drug offenses were felonies.<\/p><p>\u201cMaybe the people involved in the drug court program thought, \u2018On the whole, our time is better spent on felony offenders,\u2019\u201d Sherrer says.<\/p>\n<h3>\u2018We need to restructure the program\u2019<\/h3><p>Tammy Westcott supervises the Tulsa County drug court. She says court officials are working with the local district attorney and public defender to figure out how to create a misdemeanor drug court. One carrot for defendants could be dismissing their charges.<\/p><p>\u201cWe need to restructure the program,\u201d Westcott says. \u201cNobody is going to do a felony drug court, which is a minimum of 18 months, for a misdemeanor offense.\u201d<\/p><p>The penalty for a misdemeanor maxes out at one year in county jail. Westcott says a shorter, nine-month program that included treatment and other help \u201cis better than straight probation without treatment.\u201d<\/p><p>Starting a misdemeanor drug court would require big administrative changes, but Westcott thinks the real roadblock is funding. Oklahoma County Drug Court officials agree, but Melissa French, the drug court supervisor for the Public Defender\u2019s Office, says staffing is also a problem. She says there\u2019s nothing else preventing them from setting up misdemeanor drug courts, but it would be best if legislators passed new legislation to guide them.<\/p><p>Rachel Wachel doesn\u2019t care if there is a drug court for her.<\/p><p>\u201cI would end up flunking out of drug court until I got treatment to get off the pills that I\u2019ve been on for so long,\u201d Wachel says.<\/p><p>She\u2019d enter rehab but says it\u2019s too expensive.<\/p><p>Westcott wants Wachel and others in her position to know drug court is difficult, but it\u2019s more than showing up for court and taking a urine test. She says there\u2019s in-patient treatment and emotional support, and courts can connect people with food, clothes, education, jobs and child care.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Twenty years is a long time to live with a drug addiction, but Rachel Wachel has done it. She tends bar, has a house and a car \u2014 and calls herself a functioning addict.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":201,"featured_media":29228,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[18],"tags":[761,762,763],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/29224"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/201"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=29224"}],"version-history":[{"count":9,"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/29224\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":31067,"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/29224\/revisions\/31067"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/29228"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=29224"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=29224"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=29224"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}