By Margaret Beimdiek
Buena Vista and Rockbridge County will soon be home to a specialized drug treatment court that will help certain nonviolent drug offenders avoid incarceration by providing rehabilitation services.
The region will be the newest addition to 60 other drug courts throughout Virginia.
“Substance use disorder is so prevalent and is such a significant part of the criminal docket here, that it’s just worth having another option and another approach,” said Joshua Elrod, the commonwealth’s attorney for Buena Vista. “It’s a net gain in terms of reducing the burden on the system.”
Drug courts provide alternative sentencing for qualified offenders with the goal of reducing substance use, recidivism and drain on the court system.
Jared Moon, the commonwealth’s attorney for Rockbridge County and Lexington, said that most drug cases in Rockbridge County deal with methamphetamine, but fentanyl has been on the rise in the last year.
Virginia State Police Senior Special Agent James Morris said fentanyl is more accessible than ever. In western Virginia, he said, the pill form of fentanyl is more popular that the powder version.
About the program
Moon said the drug court’s first class will be chosen by the end of the year and will include five to 15 offenders.
“They will be meeting with the judge anywhere from once a week to once a month,” he said.
Moon said the program will hold offenders accountable if they test positive for drugs or miss treatment sessions.
“That could be anywhere from a day in jail to a week in jail. It just depends on the situation,” he said.
The selection criteria for a participant in the program hasn’t been created yet. But the local prosecutors will have power to decide who gets in.
Each offender also has to meet statewide criteria to ensure that they do not have any violent offenses on their criminal records.
A drug court has three main components:
- Judges are assigned to work with drug offenders and oversee and evaluate their progress.
- Probation and parole officers keep track of whether offenders are doing what they’re supposed to do.
- Drug treatment providers provide services to help offenders address their addictions and deal with other factors, such as mental health difficulties, that may exacerbate their predicaments.
Elrod said the drug court team gets training starting in early June from All Rise, which is a national organization that promotes alternative sentencing.
The state Supreme Court has ordered drug courts to create advisory committees that include representatives from every part of the court system. Elrod said the committee has been formed but hasn’t met yet. He said he expects it will in the next month.
Elrod has been trying to establish a drug court to the area since he was elected in 2019. He said it’s taken time for support to coalesce.
“You can’t establish a drug court by sort of a majority vote of the participating individuals and agencies. You have to have everybody on board,” he said. “And without throwing anybody under the bus, I would just say there hasn’t always been a consensus.”