It's a lot easier to go to jail than participate in adult drug court, LaKeisha Barron-Brown, a probation officer in Putnam County, said she often hears.
Lawmakers on Thursday at the Capitol will honor the 857 graduates of adult drug courts in the state since the birth of the program about 16 years ago.
The Drug Court Day will also celebrate the 506 participants who have graduated from juvenile drug courts around the state since 2007.
A ceremony will be held at 10 a.m. in the lower rotunda. Some lawmakers and several graduates from programs throughout West Virginia will speak.
"We look forward to celebrating these treatment programs, the success of which is so crucial to ending the repeating cycle of drug abuse, victimization and crime in our State," said Justice Brent Benjamin in a news release from the West Virginia Supreme Court.
Adult and juvenile drug courts act as diversionary programs for addicts who have been charged with relatively minor crimes. Instead of going to jail, participants take an extensive testing, counseling and community service program run by the court system to help them control their substance-abuse problems. If they complete the program, prosecutors agree to dismiss their criminal charges.
Barron-Brown, a probation officer with the Putnam adult drug court program, said Wednesday that she planned to be at the Capitol for the ceremony.
She has seen first-hand what drug courts can do for participants.
"The biggest thing is we help them build self-esteem. They start feeling like they are somebody," she said. "After they've lived a life of crime and addiction they've lost faith and this program makes them feel like they are people, humans like you and me again."
Many judicial officials have said that about 90 percent of criminal cases in the state can be attributed directly to drug-related crimes.
The Justice Reinvestment Act passed in 2014 requires adult drug courts to serve all of West Virginia's counties by July 1.
There are 27 adult drug court programs serving 45 counties, according to the release from the Supreme Court. Others are set to be implemented in Doddridge, Pleasants, Ritchie, Braxton, Clay, Gilmer, Webster and Mingo counties by July.
There's also a low chance for graduates to commit another crime. Barron-Brown said of those who have completed the program in Putnam in the past three years, none have committed other crimes.
The average annual cost to serve an adult drug court participant is $7,100, compared to an annual incarceration cost of $17,611 in jail or $28,369 in prison, the Supreme Court's release states.
"I've seen magnificent change in people," Barron-Brown said Wednesday. "I've seen families reunite, I've seen individuals who haven't had a job in years be able to become employed and stay with one job for the entire time they are in drug court."
Reach Kate White at kate.white@wvgazettemail.com, 304-348-1723 or follow @KateLWhite on Twitter.