Drug Court: Breaking the cycle of addiction

“This is one of my proudest moments,” said Susan Pierre, standing before a crowded courtroom on the third floor of the Lake County Courthouse. “I have my son, my daughter, my niece all graduating from Drug Court.”

Pierre is also a graduate of the program, which gives people who have a criminal record related to drugs or alcohol abuse an opportunity to find a path toward sobriety through judicial oversight, frequent testing, and a mix of incentives and sanctions.

Pierre graduated five years ago and told the audience, “I’m still going strong.”

On Oct. 31, it was the next generation’s turn. Pierre’s two children, Josiah and Jodessa Senecal, and her niece, Alexia Pierre, each stood before Judge Molly Owen to receive their Drug Court diplomas – an official acknowledgement that they had completed the court’s requirements.  

Pierre introduced her son, Josiah. “To be honest, I didn't think this kid would make it because he doesn't like to be told what to do. He likes to do his own thing. He's really stubborn and headstrong,” she said.

“But he always makes the right choice and he's always headed in the right direction,” she added.

Judge Owen noted that Senecal volunteered for last year’s Families First Christmas dinner and has helped out “wherever he was needed, at any event.” He’s become an apprentice plumber/electrician, bought himself a new truck, and “is very connected in the recovery community.”

She noted that he and his sister, Jodessa, had both been frequent flyers in the court system before entering Drug Court. “And to have you be here, just a law-abiding member of society, a productive member of society … I'm so proud of you.”

According to Drug Court coordinator Lisa Brueggman, Josiah “is cutting a path for people his age and people that he's used with. … Like your sister, like all of us, you’re just making a new trend out there,” she told him.

When Jodessa’s turn came, Angela Evans spoke on her behalf, noting that most people enter Drug Court with an external motivation to avoid prison “or wherever we were going to go.” But to succeed “the external motivation turns into internal motivation.”

For Jodessa, as well as her brother and cousin, Evans said, “they've had that internal change to where I know they're going to do good after today.”

Judge Owen spoke of Jodessa’s hard work to reclaim her children, and her volunteer efforts that included hosting a face-painting table at Families First’s Christmas dinner.

“I remember a time where I thought maybe this wasn't going to work out but you did it and you're such a testament to the strength and resiliency of the human spirit,” the judge told her.

Alexia said her little boy was a source of inspiration.

“There are times where I wanted to give up and just go home and forget about this and wait until I had to go to jail or something,” she said. “Then, I always have my little child there and I want to just show him, be present there for him, and always make sure that he's always loved and that there's always a better way to do something.”

Retired Judge Jim Manley, who started Lake County’s Drug Court during his time on the District Court bench, spoke about the potent possibility of generational change.

He noted that Susan Pierre had graduated from Drug Court during his tenure. The court, he said, had insisted that in order for her to quit using she would have to evict her children, who were using drugs, from her house.

“And essentially she did that in order to get straight and it was the hardest thing that she did in her whole program,” he said. “And then she was raising her grandkids.”

“So to come here now and see this is a second generation that we're in now,” he said, noting that some families have been facing addiction for four and five generations.

“We’re breaking cycles.”