By Hailey Heinz
Albuquerque Journal
ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — After Robert Honorio’s wife died, he stopped trying. “I was trying to drink myself to death, I guess,” he said.
He was arrested for DWI twice in the year after her death. And when he was referred to Metropolitan Court’s Drug Court program, he still wasn’t trying very hard. He went through the motions, trying to get by with minimal effort in a program that requires major lifestyle changes.
“When he first came, he wasn’t ready to change,” said Honorio’s probation officer, Melissa Valdez.
It took Honorio about 20 months to complete a program that can be done in nine. He spent some of that time in jail and nearly gave up on the program. Now, he is a poster child for Drug Court and spoke at a recent graduation ceremony honoring its success.
The Drug Court concept celebrates its 20th birthday this year. The first one started in Florida’s Miami-Dade County in 1989, guided by the theory that low-level drug offenders would be better served by rehab than jail.
Drug Court came to Bernalillo County in 1995, when District Court started offering a treatment-based program to nonviolent drug offenders. Two years later, Metro Court adopted its own version, specifically targeting alcohol dependence in repeat DWI offenders.
The program is intense and sometimes invasive. All offenders in the DWI program have interlocks installed in their cars, attend meetings and counseling, are frequently tested for drugs and alcohol, and even undergo mandatory acupuncture treatment aimed at reducing symptoms of withdrawal.
In a recent celebration outside Metro Court, graduates from both programs shared their success stories, while the judges assigned to them beamed like proud parents. Judges lauded Drug Court’s effectiveness; over 10 years, 84 percent of graduates haven’t had any new DWI convictions.
“Drug Courts work more than anything else in our system,” Metro Court Judge Julie Altwies said.
Honorio was one of the graduates who spoke at the ceremony and dedicated the moment to his late wife, who died in July 2006.
“I turned to alcohol to take away the pain,” he said. “I wanted just to quit and give up.”
And he almost did.
Honorio had made it nearly all the way through the program without making any real changes in his life. He was a few weeks from graduation when he slipped up and tested positive for alcohol.
“He was trying to fit the program into his old lifestyle,” Valdez said.
Honorio was sent to jail, and Valdez encouraged him to enroll in the Metropolitan Detention Center’s Addiction Treatment Program, a 28-day residential rehab.
“At first he said no, he just wanted to finish out his jail time and be done,” Valdez said. “But I said, ‘Robert, we’re not ready to give up on you.’ ”
He completed the ATP program, and once released from jail he had to start Drug Court at a much earlier stage - nearly starting over.
This time, grief counseling was part of his regimen, and by working through his grief as well as his alcoholism, Honorio completed the program successfully. “He never gave up on himself,” said Metro Court Judge Cristina Jaramillo, who presides over DWI drug court and was the judge assigned to Honorio’s case.
At 52, Honorio said some of his most important years are still ahead. He has two daughters, ages 19 and 21. He said he wasn’t really there for them after his wife’s death, but he has regained that relationship now that he’s sober. He also has a 4½-year-old grandson.
“I want to teach him to fish,” Honorio said, adding that this future is possible only because of Drug Court.
“I can’t say enough about this program,” he said. “It’s been the best thing that could have happened to me.”
Copyright 2009 Albuquerque Journal