One of the first steps to recovery is admitting to ones self you have an addiction. Prior to my vacation at rehab, my favorite tag line was “admitting you're an alcoholic is half the battle so at least I am half way there”. Half way to cirrhosis? Fantasy land it a good happy place. Had I tossed some illegal drugs in the fantasy land mix, maybe I could have seen Mickey, Donald, and Mr. Magoo drift into my happy place. There are only two ways into recovery. The individual decides they are too fucked up to survive, or someone deems you fucked up and forces you into recovery.
DISCLAIMER: I have never had a D.U.I., or any substance abuse related interaction with the law. Shit, I've only had one speeding ticket in whole life. Therefore this blog entry is not be written by a bitter drunk who feels fucked by the courts.
Court ordered recovery, for the most part, is way fucked up. Judge MacKenzie of the 52 district court here in Michigan will rattle on the success of his Sobriety Court. He'll show you the success rates for decreased re-offenders from his program verses those not in his program. The numbers work great for the state obtaining the state grants which fund his court. I can't completely toss Judge MacKenzie, or other Judges who run Sobriety Courts, totally down the shitter. These guys are making an attempt to help and work within our laws. I also agree that fuckheads who get behind a wheel while drunk or stoned need to be legally kept off the roads and need to face consequences for their actions. It's the methodology of how recovery through the courts that is fucked.
This past New Years Eve in my area, Lynch and Son's Funeral Homes were offering free rides home to those who drank too much and could not get a cab. I knew I would be riding a caffeine free aspartame high so told friends to call me if they had more than one drink an hour. My question is, and has been for years, where the fuck is M.A.D.D.? Why don't they establish ride programs? I'll tell you where they are, they are sitting waiting for someone to get behind the wheel fucked up and get arrested. They value funding over prevention. Lower drunk driving statistics could jeopardize their existence. This multi-million nonprofit corporation could lose grants and funding if the statistics aren't there. If these bitches really cared, long ago they would have established a safe ride program. They capitalize on individuals who lost a loved one to a drunk driver. M.A.D.D. tosses victims of drunk drivers before the media and courts to misdirect their anger and pain. It's all about the money.
If you end up getting sentenced for a drunk driving offense in the 52nd district court here in Michigan, there is a sentencing board which makes recommendations to the judge. On this board sits two members from M.A.D.D.. They pontificate how horrible the guilty party's offense is, then throw in graphic details of someone they knew killed by a drunk driver. After the boards recommendations, the judge then will issue sentencing. For the first or second offense, usually a term of probation and an agreement to enter a court ordered recovery program is ordered. If you are lucky enough to keep your license, you should be able to complete the program. Most end up with a restricted license or no license at all. You're then tossed out the door to fend for yourself.
Prior to going to recovery groups and actually meeting these court appointees, I had the attitude they got what they deserved. It's easy to pass arm chair judgment from the blind side. In reality, these people need help. No recovery program will be successful if the means are not available to actually work the program. This is where the courts fall short. M.A.D.D., well they are just a bunch of douche bags from the get go.
I met a young dude at an AA meeting who we shall refer to as Don. Dumb ass Don was on his second D.U.I.. He choose to enter Judge MacKenzie's Sobriety Court program. He also had a second choice which was 90 days in jail then probation. License suspended, three AA meetings a week, community service, random drug/alcohol screening, and monthly meetings with a probation officer was his sentence for the next 18 months. Now toss in the $2500.00 in court costs to be paid by the end of the 18 months. Dumb ass Don also racked up $4000.00 in lawyer fees autonomous to his restitution to the courts. Prior to his second offense, not learning jack shit from his first, Don was a college student in East Lansing, Michigan which the court forced him to drop out. I have no issue with the sentence. My issue lies in the means to execute the judgment.
First, why force a student in good standing to quit college? Why not communicate the probation to Ingham County where he attended college? It's a prove fact students who do not return to college after a extended period away never re-enroll. If Don's probation were transferred, all restitution and supervision of his sentence are off Judge MacKenzie's roster. This lowers the count in his Sobriety Court. If this became a standard practice, the lower numbers in his program might result in a decrease in grants and funding. Let's pull the guy out of college, so our courts can remain funded. Excellent logic and what an investment to our future tax payers! Shit, the courts transfer probation all the time for sex offenders. They want those fuckers as far away from their county as possible.
Readers, meet J.A.M.S., J.A.M.S. meet my readers. J.A.M.S. stands for Jail Alternative for Michigan Services. Basically, J.A.M.S. is a place where persons under regular court order randomly goes to piss in a cup. Consider it your own private urinal by invitation only. Sometimes they make you blow into a breathalyzer, but is mostly a piss joint. A few times a week the offender calls into a computer, enters their pin number, and if you are ever so lucky to be chosen by computer generated lottery, it gives you the day and time you have to go piss. Days and times always vary and the J.A.M.S. locations are not like a CVS pharmacies where there is one in every town. Miss a date with the piss cup, it's a violation of your probation agreement. Your ass can be out of the program and off to jail you go. This really fucks getting a regular job since you're on call seven days a week to piss in a cup. Now take into account the person has no license. How the fuck do they get there? Even the best of friends get burned out driving your ass around at odd hours over an 18 month period.
Every aspect of the sentences given to drunk drivers involves a large amount of time, obscure unstructured hours, and involves transportation. It takes a very understanding company and boss to employ a person in a Sobriety Court program. Needless to say, Dumb ass Don ended up working for me. In the end, I don't think Don was an addict, just a total dumb fuck.
As I said, I'm not bitching about the sentences given to drunk drivers. My issue is with the means available to the guilty parties to fulfill their sentences successfully. I would give Dumb ass Don rides to a small percentage of the various places he was required to go. Just that small percentage made me feel like a soccer mom with a kid on a travel league. Consider rides to community service, work, AA meetings, cup pissing, and probation evaluations. That will eat up the 12,000 miles a year on your lease vehicle in a heart beat.
If M.A.D.D. is so fucking concern about rehabilitating the offenders, why don't they have ride programs? For that matter, why don't they have peer groups of former offenders, who now have licenses reinstated, assisting in rides and advising the guilty for successful completion of their probation? It's because they don't fucking care. They don't care to establish a safe ride program on recognized bar nights such as New Years Eve. They don't give two shits if another persons family member is killed by a drunk driver which may have never gotten on the road if safe ride programs existed. Actions speak, and those bitches don't act. Judgment, grants, and their two second of fame to be heard is their only agenda.
If you know someone involved in M.A.D.D., ask them what have they personally done to keep a drunk driver off the road? After listening to their response, you have my full permission to call them a dumb ass bitch.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment