[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 163 (2017), Part 5]
[Senate]
[Pages 6416-6417]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                       NATIONAL DRUG COURT MONTH

  Mr. ISAKSON. Mr. President, as part of National Drug Court Month, I 
want to honor a program that has directly and indirectly benefited so 
many Americans and American families.
  In my hometown of Marietta, GA, we had the good fortune of having a 
driving under the influence, or DUI, court

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program, established nearly 10 years ago in 2008. Since that time, the 
Cobb County DUI court program has saved our Cobb County Sheriff's 
office more than an estimated $3 million in incarceration costs alone.
  However, these accountability courts have saved much more than just 
money. For example, there is the little girl who was living with 
parents in active addiction who now has a sober father who was able to 
gain custody of her and raise her in a stable home environment. We have 
seen parents, children, and entire families saved through recovery and 
restored through the healing work of counseling.
  More than 300 individuals have been saved from addiction, crime, 
recidivism, unemployment, and incarceration by the structure, 
accountability, and tough love approach of the DUI court program. These 
individuals have been able to move forward with their lives as 
productive, tax-paying citizens. Through drug and DUI court programs, 
the cycle of probation and addiction is broken and history rewritten. 
The number we can't count is the number of lives potentially saved from 
fatal accidents and other tragic events that were prevented through 
participants' recovery.
  It is such a special opportunity for me to write to many of the 
graduates of the drug and DUI court programs in our State and think of 
the strength of these individuals who are turning their lives around to 
live free of drug and alcohol addiction. I applaud their efforts, and I 
always remind them that, while getting off drugs or alcohol may be the 
hardest thing they will ever do, it is also the most important thing 
they will ever do for themselves and their families.
  On May 2, 2017, the Cobb DUI court program hosted its 30th graduation 
ceremony. Graduation day is such a special one not only for these 
graduates, but for the staff who work tirelessly in trying to save 
lives. That is the day where they see the long hours, the countless 
emails, the midnight phone calls, and the reams of paperwork pay off. 
They can look at where a defendant used to be and see how that man or 
woman's life has changed. On graduation day, lives are reformed and new 
ones begin.
  I applaud all those fighting to change lives for the betterment of 
all.

                          ____________________