Charles Crane/MDN Mountrail County State’s Attorney Wade Enget, at podium, and Ward County State’s Attorney Roza Larson participate in a seminar at the Sleep Inn & Suites Conference Center in Minot on the statewide Adult Drug Court program. The program offers qualifying defendants access to services and treatment as an alternative to incarceration.

A judicial program designed to help people with drug offenses get sober and stay out of prison is working, according to those who have seen the results.

Several local prosecutors and counselors presented information on the North Central District’s hybrid drug court program to attendees of the Western Dakota Association of Legal Assistants’ spring seminar held at the Sleep Inn & Suites Conference Center in Minot Wednesday.

Adult Drug Court in North Dakota began after the passage of legislation in 2001, and the North Central Drug Court in Ward County was established in 2009. There are currently drug court programs operating in Fargo, Bismarck, Grand Forks and Jamestown.The voluntary program involves multiple professions in the legal system, including prosecutors, defense attorneys, probation officers and judges.

Attorney Christine Reierson, who has been with the program since its inception in Ward County, said the weekly meetings with judges in particular have proven to be essential for the participant’s staying sober and remaining on track in life.

“Let’s try not to put people in prison, and let’s have this program to keep them in treatment. Once in the program, it’s really structured. It’s been a great experience both on the prosecution side and the defense side. It’s been excellent watching people get their lives on track and overcome some of those struggles with addiction,” Reierson said. “Since its inception, it has been a really good program for our community.”

The court-supervised treatment-oriented program is targeted toward willing participants facing issues stemming from substance abuse disorders, as long as they meet several qualifying factors. Applicants are generally accepted if they are determined to be at high risk following subsequent arrests for drug- or alcohol-related offenses and in high need for treatment and services.

Mountrail County was added to the North Central Drug Court Program in 2021. Mountrail County State’s Attorney Wade Enget had petitioned local judges to aid in addressing an uptick in arrests for drunk driving after the COVID-19 pandemic lockdown and the troubling increase in unintentional drug overdose deaths in the county. The latest report from the North Dakota Attorney General found Mountrail County leads the state in overdose deaths at a rate twice as high as the statewide average – at 5.72 deaths per 10,000 population.

“That’s not a good statistic in Mountrail County and even in our state for people to wave the flag saying, ‘That’s not happening here. It might be happening in Minneapolis. It might be happening in Chicago.’ But folks, it’s happening here, right down the road,” Enget said. “On average, two North Dakotans die each week from overdoses. There is an epidemic out there and there has to be some way to help people. Once we’ve had contact with these people in the criminal justice system, there has to be an alternative.”

Participants in North Central’s program must live in Mountrail, Burke or Ward Counties. They range in age from their late teens to individuals in their 80s. First-time offenders often are not admitted to drug court based on the risk and need requirements, which are targeted toward individuals who are facing at least their third or subsequent offenses.

Participants generally complete the program in around 11-12 months, with their time in the program determined by their consistency of participation and employment status. Those who complete the program benefit on a statutory level as they could see felony offenses reduced to misdemeanors and, in the case of misdemeanor DUIs, receive temporary restricted driver’s licenses and have their cases dismissed and sealed.

“We want to get people right away, to get them into the program, get them going, get them sober and not bog down the court system,” Reierson said. “We don’t want our program to be used as a last-ditch effort. We’re not the last resort. It’s a voluntary willing program. We want you to actually want to make changes in your life. We realize some people are using the program to avoid prison and jail, but we’re hoping that they’re taking the steps through these avenues to make a lasting change.”

Enget and Ward County State’s Attorney Roza Larson noted the state’s prison system for both men and women is over capacity, resulting in many prisoners being farmed out to jails in Ward and McKenzie counties, among others.

Larson said drug court has helped alleviate the stress on the Department of Corrections & Rehabilitation and on probation and parole officers but admitted that successfully completing the rigorous program and the constant monitoring that goes along with it has been a deterrent for some individuals.

“The nice thing about drug court is we understand there is a very good chance of a relapse. When they’re in drug court, we have the resources to say, ‘We’re going to get you back into those services again.’ Because if someone is going to relapse, that person understands that we as a team care about them, but care enough to want them to get the services they need. Whether it’s housing, if it’s in regard to cravings, mental health services, we want to be able to meet people right there.”