Drug Court Graduates' Corner
Overview
Dear Drug Court Graduates:
Congratulations on your tremendous accomplishments! You have transformed yourselves from someone whose only future was a jail cell to someone with your whole life spread out before you. You’ve traded jail for your own homes. You’ve traded the drug business for an honest days work. You have traded the people with whom you used drugs or alcohol for a loving and supportive family.
As you congratulate yourselves on your transformations and the hard work that it took to accomplish it, don’t forget some important things
1) Don’t forget there are no shortcuts in life
There is no shortcut to feeling good. While drugs might make that promise, they always fall short. While you were busy running after that high, your family and friends were running away from you. While you were chasing drugs and alcohol, drugs and alcohol were busy chasing your health into a downward spiral.
The things that are going to make you feel good are your relationships with your family and sober friends.
There is no short cut to fortune. The drug trade might seem like the easy way until you are eating a baloney sandwich in jail. Only hard work at an honest trade will ultimately payoff.
2) Don’t forget where you came from
Don’t forget the lessons that you’ve learned in drug court. The only way that you’ll stay sober is if you remember how you got clean in the first place and the tools that you used to do it.
3) Don’t forget who helped you get to where you are today
Many people helped you get to this point in your life. The counselors and friends at your programs, your case manager, your self-help sponsors, your family and friends. Don’t forget to call on these same people when you need help in the future. Just because you graduated, doesn’t mean that the disease of addiction has miraculously disappeared. To keep from coming back to Court, keep your connections with the people that helped you regain your sobriety. You are not alone. There are many people waiting to lend a hand.
Problem-Solving Courts Coordinator
Lisa Lindsay,
Manhattan Graduates
Manhattan Treatment Court (MTC)
Manhattan Misdemeanor Treatment Court (MMTC)
Brooklyn Graduates
Screening & Treatment Enhancement Part (STEP)
Misdemeanor Brooklyn Treatment Court (MBTC)
Queens Graduates
Queens Misdemeanor Treatment Court (QMTC)
Staten Island Graduates
Staten Island Treatment Court (SITC)