John
Hamilton
CEO,
Recovery Network of Programs
Bridgeport,
Conn. area
John Hamilton, past President of NEADCP
is most certainly not resting on his career laurels.
Having logged 34 years in the field of addiction
treatment and prevention, he says now, “I always felt I could do a better job.”
That determination to improve on what he had already accomplished explains how
he came to be involved in drug courts.
Hamilton had been exposed to several
different programs treating and preventing addiction, but only when he was
introduced to the drug court model did he realize that he had found “the
perfect collaboration of public health and public safety” and, he adds, “the
perfect model of sanctions and incentives.” He quickly proceeded to seek a drug
court grant for Bridgeport, Conn., where his work on behalf of drug addicts
continues.
That work has not been without its challenges.
In the Connecticut judiciary, “only a handful of visionary judges [initially]
saw the value” of drug courts, Hamilton says. Then, in 2000, it was only
through the intervention of the drug courts’ monitor (Maureen Derbacher, also
an NEADCP board member) that a docket for those courts was created and funding
for them allocated in the state budget.
Hamilton and other advocates eventually
succeeded in inserting a line item in the budget that enabled them to begin
building a drug court system, as he says, “from the ground up.” The cities of
New Haven and Willimantic are now home to two courts, each offering inpatient treatment
and diversion options in outpatient facilities.
Asked about the medication-assisted
treatment that the courts are required to provide if they are receiving federal
funding, Hamilton says he is a strong supporter. He notes that research has
shown that if an opiate addict fails to get that treatment, he or she has only
a 9 percent chance at a sustained recovery.
Undeterred by the challenges he has
faced over three-plus decades, Hamilton remains determined to influence drug-court
policy with a campaign that he pledges will recognize “who drug courts work for
and who they don’t, under what conditions they work well for
high-risk/high-need individuals and when they don’t, and what are the best
options for making them work well.”
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