(Maryville) — Drug makers and distributors have been forced to pay billions of dollars in damages for their role in creating the nation’s opioid epidemic.
Those funds are trickling down to communities across the country, including here in Nodaway County.
The Nodaway County Court System is receiving funds to support it’s Drug Court and its D-W-I court, that’s Driving While Intoxicated. The funds are payouts from pharmaceutical companies which illegally pushed opioids onto the public, fueling an epidemic.
Nodaway County’s Associate Circuit Judge Robert Rice says the court applied for a small sum, $3,500, to support a drug tracker.
“Now what a tracker is, is a law enforcement officer who’s working off time from their respective agency. And we can hire basically that agency for that officer to go by and do unannounced random checks on our participants. The tracker could ask the participant to give a sample for drug testing or alcohol testing, and just to make sure they’re compliant with the directives of the drug court program.”
If the tracker finds a violation, the court will work to get the offender back into compliance. These alternate treatment programs aim to rehabilitate convicted drug users through treatment and support rather than jail time. According to statistics kept by the county, they are highly successful, reducing the rate of repeat offenders by 60 to seventy percent.
There are currently nine Nodaway County residents participating in the drug court program, and 5 nine the DWI program.
