Alpena Adult Drug Court In Need Of Funds

The adult drug court has found it’s way in the midst of a battle. The program that helps so many lost federal funding last week.

A major program that helps former addicts recover from their battles is losing funding.

“It kind of begs the question, why? What did we do wrong there’s an assumption that we did something wrong, and we did not,” Honorable Thomas J. LaCross said.

The adult drug court was denied federal funding reducing 3 quarters of its subsidy that provides case management operations. An important meeting was held inside of district court Wednesday to discuss the future of the program.

The enhancement grant, which makes up $133,000 of the program, was sliced to 0. Over 122 applicants from across the country applied for the grant, but only 34 were awarded. Wednesday’s meeting was to address the public on how the Alpena community could pull together to fill the gap.

Judge LaCross said adult drug court is highly needed to keep graduates on track.

“Without drug courts people generally commit crimes 60% of the times within 2 years of their offense. When they’re in a drug court it’s usually around 30% so it’s better,” he added.

According to Judge LaCross, Alpena’s drug court is one of the best in northeast Michigan.

“Our drug court has a recidivism rate of 19%, 1.9% which is very, very good,” he added.

Drug court meets every Wednesday at 10 am inside of the district court courtroom. LaCross plans on holding more informational gatherings in the future in hopes to gain funding support.