‘There is such a better life out there’: How Mahoning’s drug court faces addiction and changes lives
The Mahoning County Common Pleas Drug Court gives drug offenders a chance to go through a holistic transformation — physical, mental, social and emotional — to recover from substance abuse.
Denise Raub, a 32-year-old Poland resident, was introduced to prescription drugs at about 16 years old, after having several dental procedures where she used Vicodin and Percocet.
Those drugs made her feel “comfortable in [her] own skin.” They also eventually led her to other hard substances, she said.
In January 2021, Raub was seven years clean when her grandmother died from COVID-19. She quit every hard substance, but was still drinking alcohol regularly and wasn’t taking healthy care of herself.
The stress and loss of the only mother-figure in her life caused her to go back out on the streets after working toward recovery, she said.
“I lost my mom, and my dad is in recovery, so my grams was my mom, cheerleader, everything,” Raub said. “But God knew she needed to be removed so I could be independent, as much as I loved her to death.”
Raub said a normal day for her while on drugs was not knowing whether the sun was rising or setting. She would go days without eating and not even realize it.
“I remember being in total chaos and confusion. You don’t know where you are or what day it is,” she said. “It’s almost paralyzing and you have to sit there and figure out what’s going on. After that, it’s only about that next drug and how to get more.”
She said she felt like there was no going back to sobriety once she started using drugs again.
“I knew when I was out there that I was never going to stop now, I was going to [use drugs] until I was dead,” Raub said. “I fell asleep in [a] McDonald’s parking lot drive-thru with a bunch of meth and other substances and I [was charged] with three [fourth-degree felonies] and one [fifth-degree felony] for aggravated possession.”
A first-degree-felony in Ohio is the most severe charge, carrying a sentence of 3 to 11 years in prison and a up to $20,000 in fines, according to the Spaulding & Kitzler attorney group. A fifth-degree felony is the least severe, with 6 to 12 months in prison and a $2,500 maximum in fines. Third-degree felonies include fleeing and eluding police and certain drug offenses.
The Ohio Supreme Court in 1997 certified Mahoning County’s felony-level drug court program as a specialized docket, a court that offers a therapeutic and judicial approach to provide treatment to individuals with substance abuse disorders.
Drug offenders have to plead guilty to their drug-related charges to enter the program. Once they successfully complete the three phases of the program and are living a life of recovery for one year, all of their charges are dropped.
Drug offenders charged with fourth- or fifth-degree felonies and have nonviolent, sexual or weapon-related charges are eligible for drug court. There also must be evidence of a drug addiction.
‘Praying to die in my sleep’
When Raub learned about drug court from her public defender in March 2021, she said people on the street told her the program would set her up for failure.
She was told she would be “signing her life away and still end up in prison.”
But Raub said it’s done the complete opposite for her.
“Both of my parents [were] addicted. ... They split up when I was 6 or 7,” she said. “I saw a lot of things when I was little, like manipulation, and I noticed looking back that I portrayed all my [trauma] symptoms as an addict.”
Raub is now held to a higher level of accountability that she’s never had before.
Now she doesn’t dread waking up in the morning and stopped “praying to die while in [her] sleep,” Raub said. She gets to look forward to what the next day holds.
“I’m almost back to being a morning person. I never in my life have been on a routine like I am now. I get up early, make my coffee, shower and play with my cat,” she said. “I go to work, come home for lunch during work and get off at about 4:30. I do homework some nights or go to a [drug] meeting.”
She is now living a more independent lifestyle with her 13-year-old cat, without having to rely on anyone to support her.
She has a full-time job at Polaris Windows & Doors in Youngstown and is working toward an accounting degree from Kent State University.
“I’m paying my own bills and not with any man,” Raub said, adding her long-term dream would be to operate a sober living house on her family’s farmland property.
Like Raub, Leila Rood’s treatment in the drug court program helped her realize her full potential as a young adult without a life of drugs.
Rood, a 20-year-old Salem resident, was charged with three felonies and two misdemeanor drug charges after stealing from her grandmother in December 2020.
Rood said growing up in a household with substance use led her to start down her own path of using.
“I was on all types of opioids, heroin and cocaine,” she said. “I was in and out of drug houses, running from cops, not speaking to family, dropping out of school and stealing.”
Initially, Rood said she wanted no part of the drug court program, until she was told she was facing six years in prison. Rood knew this program would be her way out.
“Since I’ve been in this program, I’ve learned how to become an adult, how to do day-to-day things in life, how to treat people and love myself,” she said.
More than half of offenders finish drug court
There were more than 64,000 drug offenders in federal prison last month, about 45% of all inmates, according to the Federal Bureau of Prisons database.
About 18% of all arrests in Ohio reported to the FBI in 2018 were for drugs, according to a state Uniform Crime Report.
Karlee Briceland, drug court case manager, said placing criminals with drug disorders in prison is not helping treat the problem of addiction.
“If you put them in prison, they will stop using while in prison, but they haven’t gained the coping skills and support they need to live a different lifestyle,” she said. “When they come out, they will continue to do the same things or even worse because now they are bitter about being put in prison.”
Raub said going to prison would have just hardened her mindset and she thinks she would not have gotten the right help needed to treat her addiction.
“It would have just made me mad, resentful and angry, and I’m not getting any type of help [for drug addiction],” she said.
Amy Klumpp, Mahoning County’s felony drug court coordinator, said one man now in the drug court program has several drug offenses. He’s been through treatment several times and completed the program. Now he’s found himself starting over with the same charges, she said.
“He’s never been successful, but I’m hoping at some point he’s here long enough to get it and quit playing the game,” Klumpp said.
She said non-completion of the program is rarely because of drug use. But drug offenders sometimes have issues with completing treatment in the program and the drug court team runs out of ways to help them, Klumpp said.
“Over half of our clients [finish the program],” she said. “For those who don’t, they are sentenced and because of the rules in the legislation, for the most part, they end up in community control.”
Community control requires supervision by a probation officer for a set period of time, under Ohio Revised Code. This can give drug offenders the opportunity to still receive some form of drug rehabilitation or treatment after sentencing, instead of going to prison.
Mahoning County Common Pleas Court Judge John Durkin, who presides over the specialized docket program, desires to form a relationship with each drug offender, Klumpp said. That makes a big difference on how successful they are, she said.
How past and present trauma play a role in drug crime
Rood said growing up around drug abuse let her “put her own spin” on her own abuse.
When parents are serious drug users, studies show they typically do not provide adequate care for their children, according to a 1992 report from the U.S. Department of Justice. In those cases, children are taken in by grandparents or other relatives, or become wards of the state.
Drug abuse can cause physical, social and emotional damage to children living in that household, the Justice Department reported.
“I’ve worked through so much [trauma],” Rood said. “I’ve been able to grieve properly for people that I have lost, and I’ve been able to work through [past] abuse to let people love me again.”
A 2019 Columbiana County Mental Health and Recovery Board Services report identified parental use of drugs as an issue in the county, along with a lack of parental supervision and exposure to drugs and alcohol.
Almost all drug offenders in drug court have been victimized in circumstances beyond their control, which led them to substance use, Judge Durkin said. Many drug offenders have extensive trauma from romantic or familial relationships that are associated with drugs.
“Those who are with someone who’s making a lot of money; they are attracted to the lifestyle — money, cars, clothes and attention — and with that most of the time comes drug use,” Judge Durkin said.
Raub’s mother died when she was 14 years old. The trauma led to mental health issues which predisposed her to addiction long before she first started using narcotics, she said.
“I see my past insecurities, all of the things that made me not feel good, like if I wasn’t selected or thought of first. I would react internally and from a very young age I needed to fit in and feel accepted,” she said. “The way to do that was to be a part of the one crowd that accepts anyone.”
Raub continues to work through past trauma with her father and their relationship is “better than ever today.”
“I tell him everything now, and when I was a kid, I exaggerated and lied, but today I don’t have to do that and try to remember what I told him last week,” she said. “The bond I have with him now is so amazing.”
Briceland, the drug court’s case manager, works for Treatment Accountability for Safer Communities, or TASC, a division of Meridian HealthCare in Youngstown that provides drug treatment, screenings and relapse prevention programs for drug court participants.
“Substance [abuse] is one of their biggest coping skills to deal with trauma and pain. Whether it was abuse, neglect — turning to substances is one way to [deal with] those things,” Briceland said.
Drug offenders’ decision-making skills are almost always impaired by their drug abuse, making it difficult to escape their relational circumstances.
“I would say it is next to impossible for people to make rational decisions when they are using drugs, especially depending on the substance,” Briceland said. “If someone isn’t in the right frame of mind, of course crime is bound to happen, because you’re not who you normally are.”
Briceland said drug offenders continue to face traumas while in the program, which can cause relapse.
“We do have somebody in the drug court right now who graduated, lived a life of recovery for a while and then returned to substance use,” she said. “As much support as the drug court gives to people, they must put in that work, and it’s not easy.”
Drug court addresses mental health and trauma-related victimization in its holistic approach to treatment, she said.
“I think of a lot of our girls with their substance use disorder ... end up in relationships where they are very dependent,” Klumpp said. “We had a girl where both of her parents were heroin addicts, she started shooting them up when she was 8 years old and started using heroin herself when she was 12 or 14 years old.”
‘There is such a better life out there’
Raub is now 10 months clean and in the final phase of the drug court program.
She said she’s working on building new friendships and relationships that do not center around drug use. Raub said she is fearful of judgment from her co-workers and friends after sharing her story on drug use.
“I’m so torn with wanting to scream it from the rooftop that this works and there is such a better life out there if you do it,” she said. “At the same time, that’s not always perceived well. I’m not ashamed of it, but I don’t want to have people treat me differently over it. I have a small group of friends [in the program], but that’s been on my list to expand my friendships.”
Raub said going through her drug recovery this time around made her more independent and able to carry more responsibility.
“It was always about me, and I didn’t fix any of those problems,” she said. “I’ve never paid [all] of my own bills, and those seem so minimal to the average person, but I never thought I would be here.”
Briceland said the drug court is built around providing trauma-informed care, a treatment focused on addressing mental health effects of trauma and providing a person with the tools they need for recovery, according to the St. Joseph Institute for Addiction.
Drug offenders in the program usually go through intensive treatment for one to two years before graduating from the drug court program completely drug-free. Of the three treatment phases, the first is the “most intensive,” Briceland said.
“You come in and we are getting you treatment and everything you need right off the bat and giving you as much support as we can to get them into a more stable place,” she said. “During phase one they come to court every week for status hearings and work with me weekly.”
Treatment is based on a client’s individual need. Several treatment programs are offered, such as a 30- to 60-day residential program, intensive outpatient treatment three times a week, relapse prevention and one-on-one and group counseling, Briceland said.
Raub has been through the 30-day residential program, intensive outpatient treatment and has been in relapse prevention for the past year, she said. She is also on medication-assisted treatment and has been taking methadone for nine years to treat her drug addiction.
“That [prescription] saved my life and nothing else was working back then,” she said. “I’m closer to graduating than not, probably like four or five months. I feel I’m not ready for it and I’m afraid of those [future] consequences and accountability being lifted. I feel safe and comfy right now,” she said.
As participants continue through different treatment stages, they begin to focus more on long-term recovery, Briceland said.
The second phase focuses more on a client’s everyday needs, like getting them a driver’s license, Social Security card and employment to become a more productive member in society, she said. By phase three, clients should be well on their way to recovery and living a sober life, Briceland said.
“It’s pretty much checking in with them because they have the tools they need; [they’re] meeting and coming to court every three weeks,” she said. “[They’re] getting away from having the court constantly breathing down their necks and having to build that confidence that they can do that by themselves.”
Rood is currently going through intensive outpatient treatment, sober living, trauma therapy and counseling, and she attends drug court every three weeks for relapse prevention, she said.
‘You must believe in yourself’
Clients who do not follow through with treatments and programming can receive court-ordered sanctions that will set them back even further from graduating the program, Briceland said.
She said one of the biggest keys to completing the program successfully is being held accountable for following through all three phases and avoiding sanctions from missing court meetings or relapsing.
“After so many sanctions or [if the client] openly expressed that they don’t have a desire to engage in the program, that’s when we would start to determine if the person is appropriate for the court,” Briceland said.
Rood said she was almost a year sober when she received her first sanction. She went to jail for two weeks because she wasn’t attending meetings and not living 100% drug free.
“I [also] moved without permission from my parole officer,” she said. “They sat me down in jail for two weeks, but since then I haven’t had any sanctions.”
Most clients struggle with being separated from their children or families and not having legal visitation rights because of their substance use disorder.
“As they get their lives together, they want everything to be fixed right away and want to see their kids, so it’s hard for them to accept that it takes more time,” Briceland said.
There are a lot of social factors that go along with substance use.
“We see people who come from families who engage in substance use which started their own journey or younger people being influenced by friends, even people further in their lives and are in an abusive relationship and turned to substances or their partner is using,” Briceland said.
Before graduation, clients must have at least a year clean, live a life of recovery and hopefully have stable employment and housing, Briceland said.
“The drug court gives you that team and knowing you can accomplish it, but you must believe in yourself,” she said.
Judge Durkin said if someone does not complete the program, they likely will go to prison and be considered felons. Over time, the program has placed individuals under some level of supervision or probation, instead of prison.
“Even if they don’t successfully complete the program, they will do community control because prison doesn’t work for these individuals,” he said.
Judge Durkin said even if individuals don’t complete the program, the tools and resources they’re offered can still help them discover recovery and eventually turn their life around. This can make it difficult to accurately gauge the program’s success, he said.
And ‘take care of yourself’
Youngstown Municipal Court Judge Carla Baldwin said Mahoning County and the city of Youngstown are rich in treatment programs and resources to help clients stay on the right path and live a life of sobriety.
“We always want them to have a treatment and relapse prevention plan before they graduate,” she said. “We encourage pro-social activities, whether it’s joining a gym, finding a hobby or going back to school.”
One drug court graduate found herself right back in court after a relapse, Klumpp said. Being able to plant a seed in drug offenders’ minds of what they are able to achieve the second or third time around in the program is the key to long-term success.
“I felt at the time we were letting her go too early, and she was back into drugs because of a traumatic situation,” she said. “We saw her booking photo and we knew we needed to get her back. She’s doing wonderfully now and knows the last time what she didn’t do.”
Klumpp said drug offenders in the program are people who have made poor choices and are given an avenue to make better choices for a life filled with prosperity and happiness.
“They can go to other rehab [centers], but they’re not going to be held accountable because they can leave whenever they want and they can’t with us because if they leave, they will have a [legal] consequence with us,” she said.
After Rood graduates the program, she said she plans on becoming a cosmetologist and wants to work for a treatment center to help young adults find a life of recovery like she did.
“I suggest this to everyone that’s going through something,” she said. “This is so much better than going to prison because you can take care of yourself instead of sitting [in prison].”
This story was originally published April 18, 2022 at 5:00 AM