Chuck: Drug Treatment Court is alternative to incarceration
ADDITIONAL RESOURCES must be pumped into projects such as the Drug Treatment Courts to strengthen its infrastructure as an effective alternative to jail time, noted Justice Minister Delroy Chuck.
“The Government places on record our continued commitment to the Drug Treatment Court. The high number of youths smoking ganja, cocaine, and using other forms of hard drugs does not augur well for Jamaica’s future,” Chuck said at the Awareness and CapacityBuilding Workshop for the Expansion of Drug Treatment Courts in the Caribbean at The Jamaica Pegasus hotel in Kingston earlier this week.
He pointed out that the conventional methods of crime fighting have become inadequate, and in the case of nonviolent offenders charged with possession of drugs, the opportunity is there to receive treatment instead of spending time behind bars.
“What we are witnessing is how the State can leverage its resources to serve the people of Jamaica better by decreasing the numbers of non-violent offenders placed in our penal system,” the minister said.
The Drug Treatment Courts began sitting in 2001.
SMASHING SUCCESS
Chief Justice Zaila McCalla praised the programme, describing it as a smashing success and noting that expansion is the next natural step.
“You have heard of the many success stories we have had with persons graduating, and we have it in only five parishes, but now we are hoping to expand,” said McCalla.
McCalla said that the Drug Treatment Court model is a collaboration of different entities striving towards the same aim, which is the treatment and rehabilitation of some of our most vulnerable citizens.
The programme began with only two courts, one in the Corporate Area and the other in St James. Since then, three more – in St Thomas, St Catherine, and Manchester – have been added.