Arkansas drug courts awarded $1 million to support participants’ need

The Administrative Office of the Courts awarded $1 million to the Arkansas' 45 drug courts between February and May. (Getty Images)

Arkansas’ 45 drug courts received $1 million in opioid settlement funding to support program participants’ various needs as part of ongoing efforts to address the nation’s opioid epidemic.

The funding comes from a national $26 billion settlement with three opioid distributors and one manufacturer through which Arkansas will receive $216 million via annual payments over 18 years. The Administrative Office of the Courts awarded varying amounts to each of the state’s drug courts between February and May.

“The million dollars is given to the judges to help individuals that just need a little bit of a break,” AOC Director Marty Sullivan said. “It could pay for their steel-toed boots so they can go to work. It also helps individuals with treatment.”

Arkansas’ Adult Drug Court program is a voluntary, 14- to 18-month intervention program for people involved in the criminal justice system due to substance use disorder and who have an increased risk of reoffending, according to the state judiciary’s website . The program, which began in 1994 in Pulaski County under former Judge Jack Lessenberry, involves frequent court appearances, random drug testing and counseling.

Judges were given a lot of discretion over the $1 million, which must be used to provide restorative services for drug court participants, said Circuit Judge Cristi Beaumont, who oversees drug courts in Washington and Madison counties. This includes the purchase of things like cell phones so participants can call in for drug tests, bikes for transportation or dentures for teeth damaged by methamphetamine, she said.

“That’s a huge issue and just helping them with their self-esteem and making it so that they can actually eat, it’s just tremendous to them,” Beaumont said.

After a tornado over Memorial Day weekend, the courts Beaumont oversees purchased work boots for one man who “was hit pretty hard” by the storm.

The additional funding from the Administrative Office of the Courts “was a nice surprise,” Beaumont said, because the courts “survive on grants.”

“The state provides the majority of our staff, but most of the paying for people to go to treatment, paying for extra staff that is not covered by the state, we live on grants,” she said.

An estimated 2,400 Arkansans are participating in drug courts at any one point in time, AOC staff attorney Nathan McCarroll said.

Washington County, which Beaumont said is the state’s largest program with 385 participants, received the largest award, $51,350. Meanwhile, Sharp County, a much smaller program with 10 participants, received the smallest award, $10,222.

Circuit Judge Michelle Huff oversees Sharp County Drug Court, which she said launched last September and was desperately needed. Sharp County had the state’s third highest drug overdose death rate in 2022, according to the Arkansas Department of Health .

“Even $10,000 for a little small drug court program makes a huge difference,” she said.

Huff was “ecstatic” when she learned her program was receiving money, which she said could be used to pay a participant’s utility bill or a deposit on housing. Finding a place to live is a challenge in Sharp County where there’s a lack of transitional housing.

“It is a problem. I mean just finding housing at all, much less affordable housing here is a big problem,” Huff said.

Despite the challenges, Huff said it’s very rewarding to see the transformational impact of the program on participants who may find personal success by earning their GED or reconnecting with family once they’re sober.

“There’s just a whole lot of benefits that come from it, and I’m very, very grateful that we have it, very grateful,” Huff said.

Likewise, Sullivan is “extremely optimistic” about the steps Arkansas is taking to address the opioid epidemic, “a real-world problem that’s not going to go away.”

“When we’re in a position to help individuals that really want to get their lives back, this is just good public policy,” he said. “This is just really helping people get their lives back on track and getting them the treatment, getting them the job training, getting them the support that they need for housing so they can become stable and become productive members of society.”

The Administrative Office of the Courts is also combating the opioid epidemic through the distribution of 374 Naloxone rescue kits to district and circuit courts. Naloxone is a medicine that rapidly reverses an opioid overdose. The kits were supported through a $300,000 U.S. Department of Justice grant.

AOC pursued this initiative after a judge who oversees a criminal court, not a drug court, shared a story about people overdosing outside a courtroom, Sullivan said. A man awaiting sentencing who didn’t want his drugs to go to waste, took some and shared the rest with others sitting nearby, he said.

“There were literally five guys that overdosed and a bailiff caught them,” Sullivan said. “They had, fortunately, Naloxone kits … they called 911 and fortunately none of them passed away.”

Naloxone access is important, Beaumont said, because more drugs are being laced with fentanyl, increasing the risk of overdose.

“Having those in the courtroom, having those in the courthouses, I mean those seconds matter, and so it absolutely is a huge benefit that can help save someone’s life,” she said.

There were about 2,600 overdose deaths statewide between 2017 and 2023, according to Arkansas State Crime Lab statistics.

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