Drug Court rules

The Butte County Drug Court team screens all potential participants to make sure they are willing and able to comply with the program’s rules. To be eligible, participants must be addicts who have committed a felony. In return for giving up certain privileges and time-served credits, successful graduates have their felonies reduced to misdemeanors. Along the way, they must:

• Attend 90 12-step meetings in 90 days.

• Stay clean of drugs and alcohol, verified through random testing.

• Report regularly to a probation officer.

• Make regular court appearances.

• Avoid all drug users and bad influences, including relatives and spouses. Many a marriage has been broken up by Drug Court.

• Obtain a high school diploma or GED.

• Pay $350 in court fees.

Any time the judge receives a bad report on a participant, he or she is subject to jail time, time in a residential rehab or program termination. If participants drop out of the program, their next stop is state prison.