By Amanda O'Rourke
The Daily Item
LEWISBURG —
Donald lost his children, Johnathan his college degree and Joey his money — all to the grip of addiction.
They, along with three others, finally gained when on Wednesday they became the first to graduate from the Union-Snyder Drug Treatment Court, presided over by Union-Snyder President Judge Harold F. Woelfel Jr.
Each of the six graduates — Johnathan Crayton, Donald Everly, Joseph Hanrahan, Dean Lepley, Ryan Master and Stephanie Inch — had their own story of how their addiction took hold of them.
Some were as young as 12 when they took their first drink or smoked their first joint. All eventually graduated to harder drugs — methamphetamine, heroin and prescription medications.
None, however, had a more difficult story than Patricia Wisland, of Blair County, the ceremony's keynote speaker.
An addict for more than 30 years, Wisland took her first drink at 7. It took countless arrests, the loss of her children and more than 20 stints in rehab for her to finally grab hold of sobriety, which enabled her to graduate from college, no less than Phi Beta Kappa.
"I'm not better than anyone else. I was your average, run-of-the-mill drug fiend," Wisland said. "If I can do it, you can do it."
Woelfel, who told a full courtroom that he was practically dancing in anticipation of the day's ceremony, that he was not initially enthusiastic about starting a drug court.
Three years ago, when planning for the court was in its infancy, he wondered whether his years on the bench had made him too cynical to believe a drug court could be successful.
"I didn't think my job was to be a social worker," Woelfel said. "I thought my job was to be a judge."
But in presiding over the treatment court, he said he has begun to look at defendants differently.
"I get to see them, and they get to see me as human beings," Woelfel said. "We get to interact on that basis."
The court got under way in July 2008, and today, there are 16 participants in the program.
A $350,000 grant from the federal Bureau of Justice Assistance is set to run out next year, Woelfel said, and he warned commissioners from Union and Snyder counties that he will be approaching them for funding.
Though it is an expense, it results in cost savings as well, Woelfel said. While jailing a person costs an average of $30,000 a year, sending them through drug court costs $3,000 to $4,000.
Add to that the drastic decrease in recidivism in drug courts versus the regular court system — between 4 percent and 29 percent in drug courts compared to 48 percent for those who don't participate in such a program — and drug courts are a "no-brainer," the judge said.
"I have said for years that incarcerating people does not rehabilitate people. It warehouses them," Woelfel said. "If we were given the money that it costs to incarcerate five people, we could hire two probation officers to supervise and assist those five defendants walk the straight and narrow, as well as gaining new skills and new ways of thinking about things.
