{"id":2423,"date":"2016-11-09T19:17:38","date_gmt":"2016-11-09T19:17:38","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/stigmaunmasked.com\/?p=2423"},"modified":"2016-11-09T19:17:38","modified_gmt":"2016-11-09T19:17:38","slug":"drug-court-reunites-families-restores-lives","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/digitalresearch.bsu.edu\/stigmaunmasked.addiction\/article\/drug-court-reunites-families-restores-lives\/","title":{"rendered":"Drug Court\u2019s success"},"content":{"rendered":"<h1>Drug Court&#8217;s success<\/h1>\n<h3>Drug Court reunites families, restores lives<\/h3>\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\" wp-image-2424 alignright\" src=\"http:\/\/stigmaunmasked.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/11\/Rogers_UrbanLightHouse_25.jpg\" alt=\"rogers_urbanlighthouse_25\" width=\"582\" height=\"430\" \/>For the first time in five years, Theresa Miller expects to soon be able to visit her five children unsupervised. She has Delaware County\u2019s Forensic Diversion Drug Court to thank for it.<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p2\"><span class=\"s1\">\u201cDrug Court \u2026 they really have made an impact on my life that I can\u2019t even really explain,\u201d Miller said.<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p2\"><span class=\"s1\">Drug Court, founded by Delaware County Circuit Court 4 Judge John Feick in 2005, has nearly a 50 percent retention rate, meaning half of the drug addicts are successfully completely the program. If they fail, they go to jail. As many as 100 drug users are part of the program at any given period.<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p2\"><span class=\"s1\">The 25-year-old says she grew up in abusive foster homes without much contact with her family. She didn\u2019t have a relationship with her mother until she was 8. Miller said she started looking for affection in all the wrong places, which led to marijuana use at age 13.<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p2\"><span class=\"s1\">\u201cThat was my safe harbor,\u201d she said. \u201cI went to that to escape feelings, to escape emotions. Basically just to hide the pain I was feeling due to a bad childhood.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p2\"><span class=\"s1\">She started abusing pain medicine after surgery, and later turned to heroin when her mother died. During her second pregnancy, Miller used methamphetamine for the first time.<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p2\"><span class=\"s1\">\u201cThe only way I can describe it is that I felt as if I was supermom. I could do anything,\u201d she said.<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p2\"><span class=\"s1\"> Four years later, Miller found herself in even more trouble. She had moved into a trailer park but could not afford the basics. The electricity and water was shut off. The Department of Child Services got involved. She failed a drug test and her children were taken from her.<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p2\"><span class=\"s1\"> \u201cAfter they took my kids, I gave up,\u201d she said. \u201cI gave up on me. I gave up on relationships. I gave up on friends. I was, at that time, completely out of control.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p2\"><span class=\"s1\"> In the winter of 2014, Miller said, police raided her home and she spent the next six months in jail. She was charged with manufacturing methamphetamine, dealing in a controlled substance and maintaining a common nuisance. She faced six years in prison.<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p2\"><em>Article\u00a0continues\u00a0below video.<\/em><\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/pXOiza7U2FE\" width=\"100%\" height=\"450px\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen=\"allowfullscreen\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<blockquote><p><em>Jayne\u2005Meranda,\u2005Delaware\u2005County\u2005Court\u2005Coordinator,\u2005and\u2005Judge\u2005John\u2005Feick\u2005of\u2005Delaware\u2005County\u2005Circuit\u2005Court\u20054\u2005discuss\u2005what\u2005drug\u2005court\u2005is.\u2005They\u2005also\u2005explain\u2005what\u2005kind\u2005of\u2005people\u2005succeed\u2005in\u2005drug\u2005court. Megan Melton reports.<\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p class=\"p2\"><span class=\"s1\">Miller managed to complete a 30-day program at Recovery Matters in order to qualify for Delaware County\u2019s Drug Court, which would keep her out of prison. She finished the program, but it didn\u2019t stick.<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p2\"><span class=\"s1\">\u201cI came home and used within 24 hours,\u201d she said.<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p2\"><span class=\"s1\"> While in the diversion program, she stopped reporting, didn\u2019t complete her urine screenings and never went to group meetings. She went into hiding out of fear of losing her new baby.<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p2\"><span class=\"s1\"> The court issued a warrant and Miller was on the run for five months. During this time, she found out she was pregnant with her fifth child.<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p2\"><span class=\"s1\">\u201cAt that time, I realized that if I didn\u2019t get help, not only for myself but for the baby inside of me, she didn\u2019t deserve that.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p2\"><span class=\"s1\">Miller turned herself in February 2016. A week after spending three months in jail she gave birth to her baby girl, who was then detained by DCS.<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p2\"><span class=\"s1\"> <img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\" wp-image-2425 alignright\" src=\"http:\/\/stigmaunmasked.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/11\/Rogers_UrbanLightHouse_29.jpg\" alt=\"rogers_urbanlighthouse_29\" width=\"375\" height=\"274\" \/>Miller said members of Drug Court were losing hope that she could ever be successful. But Judge Feick offered her one last chance to complete the drug diversion program.<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p2\"><span class=\"s1\"> \u201cMy initial thought was that I didn\u2019t deserve it,\u201d Miller said. \u201cI\u2019ve backslid so many times that I didn\u2019t know if I could stick with something like that. But as a judge telling me that this is your last chance, it all depends on what you\u2019re going to do. If you continue to go back to using, you\u2019re going to end up in two spots: prison or dead.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p2\"><span class=\"s1\"> Miller says she is putting in every effort to successfully complete Drug Court this time, especially with the help of her case manager, Eric Cross.<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p2\"><span class=\"s1\"> \u201cIf I\u2019m having a bad day, I just go talk to him,\u201d she said. \u201cSitting in front of him, I\u2019m just me. I can be me, finally.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p2\"><span class=\"s2\"> Miller also is working through the UrbanLightHouse recovery program. The program, led by Dori Granados, houses up to six women as they use a Christ-centered program to work through their addiction.<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p2\"><span class=\"s1\"> \u201cThat was my start to becoming a safe person,\u201d she said. \u201cThat was my start to understanding who I really am. I am an addict, and I will always be an addict, but I\u2019m not an active addict, I am in recovery.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p2\"><span class=\"s1\"> Since June, every urine screen has been negative. She is regaining a relationship with her children. Miller says members of Drug Court are impressed with how much she has changed her life in such a short time.<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p3\"><span class=\"s1\">\u201cIt has been a joy to watch Theresa grow,\u201d said Jayne Meranda, Drug Court coordinator. \u201cI think her success this time is that she found a program that works for her and she\u2019s not ashamed to reach out to people for help.\u201d<img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter wp-image-2596\" src=\"https:\/\/digitalresearch.bsu.edu\/stigmaunmasked.addiction\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/11\/Screen-Shot-2016-12-08-at-7.55.23-PM.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"698\" height=\"917\" srcset=\"https:\/\/digitalresearch.bsu.edu\/stigmaunmasked.addiction\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/11\/Screen-Shot-2016-12-08-at-7.55.23-PM.jpg 573w, https:\/\/digitalresearch.bsu.edu\/stigmaunmasked.addiction\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/11\/Screen-Shot-2016-12-08-at-7.55.23-PM-228x300.jpg 228w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 698px) 100vw, 698px\" \/><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Drug Court&#8217;s success Drug Court reunites families, restores lives For the first time in five years, Theresa Miller expects to soon be able to visit her [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":2424,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2,7],"tags":[33,44,47,64,67,84,85],"class_list":["post-2423","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-article","category-law-legislation","tag-court","tag-drug","tag-families","tag-lives","tag-meth","tag-restores","tag-reunites"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/digitalresearch.bsu.edu\/stigmaunmasked.addiction\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2423","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/digitalresearch.bsu.edu\/stigmaunmasked.addiction\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/digitalresearch.bsu.edu\/stigmaunmasked.addiction\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/digitalresearch.bsu.edu\/stigmaunmasked.addiction\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/digitalresearch.bsu.edu\/stigmaunmasked.addiction\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2423"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/digitalresearch.bsu.edu\/stigmaunmasked.addiction\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2423\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/digitalresearch.bsu.edu\/stigmaunmasked.addiction\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2424"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/digitalresearch.bsu.edu\/stigmaunmasked.addiction\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2423"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/digitalresearch.bsu.edu\/stigmaunmasked.addiction\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2423"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/digitalresearch.bsu.edu\/stigmaunmasked.addiction\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2423"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}