By CAM LUCADOU-WELLS
STATE Attorney-General Martin Pakula has thrown his support behind the lauded Dandenong Drug Court.
Mr Pakula said he was looking forward to working with the magistrates’ court to “further develop the Victorian Drug Court model”.
“We will continue to examine ways to expand the reach of court-based support and specialist programs to make their successful elements more widely available.”
His comments come after the drug court’s magistrate Tony Parsons recently repeated his call for expanding the program, which has run only in Dandenong for 13 years.
“There is a massive saving to the taxpayer,” Mr Parsons said.
“It’s a significantly effective program in terms of the recovery of people with entrenched drug addictions and relieves the burden of crime on the community in a very significant way.”
The court uses a carrot-and-stick approach – an intensive two-year regime of constant reporting to Mr Parsons, urine-testing, rehabilitation, housing, vocational and welfare support coupled with the dangling threat of jail.
Earlier this month an independent report found a drug court cohort was significantly less likely to offend than a control group of prisoners.
The cost of the court’s drug treatment orders (DTOs) is $70 a day per offender, compared to $270 a day for jail prisoners.
The report also found the DTO cohort had a 90 per cent reduction in trafficking offences compared to an increase for the incarcerated group.
