• Adult resident of Lee, Collier, Charlotte, or Hendry County with a pending felony charge or violation of state probation within the 20th Judicial Circuit
• If charges have been filed in a County outside of the County of primary residence, the case may be eligible for transfer under the Florida Problem Solving Court Transfer Guide.
• Must undergo a clinical eligibility screening by the Drug Court treatment provider and admit to a serious drug problem.
• Must be willing to follow all recommendations of the Drug Court Treatment Team, participate fully in treatment and court proceedings, and engage in work or school outside of the program.
• Must be ready and willing to be fully honest and work hard to find a lasting recovery!
• All referrals will be subject to review and final approval by the Drug Court Team.

Financial Obligations

Participants are responsible for payment of full restitution to any victims of their crimes (the details and amount of which, if any is owed, are negotiated up front and included in the Drug Court Contract). Participants are also responsible for all court costs, fines and fees, as well as the cost of all treatment sessions and drug testing. Participants will need to certify their ability to meet these financial obligations prior to being accepted into Drug Court.

Drug Court participants are required to appear in Drug Court on regular scheduled dates. At each appearance, the Judge will be given a progress report prepared by the treatment provider and/or the probation officer regarding a participant's drug test results, attendance and participation.

Treatment is provided through a team approach with the combined resources of the probation office and the assigned drug treatment staff. The treatment team will assess what level of treatment will best meet a participants needs and recommend outpatient or residential treatment to the Drug Court Judge. If admitted to a residential treatment program, the treatment plan will include the requirements of that program. If not admitted into a residential treatment program, a multi component, outpatient program has been developed.

An "initial" treatment plan will be developed by the participant and your treatment team following an over-all problems and needs assessment. The plan will act as a guide for the initial treatment phase and within it, goals will be set, methods for meeting those goals will be selected, and target dates for achieving those goals will be developed. The plan will be maintained by a treatment team and will be updated as the participant progresses through the program.

Drug testing is done throughout the entire treatment process. Participants will be tested a minimum of one time per week. The Drug Court Judge will have access to all drug test results including any failures to test, and may order a drug test at any time.

The Drug Court Treatment Program is a multi-phase, highly structured, treatment program lasting for a minimum of one year, depending upon the participants' individual progress. Each phase consists of specified treatment objectives, therapeutic and rehabilitative activities and specific requirements for advancement into the next phase.

Upon completion of all terms of the Drug Court Program, the Participant will "Move On" from Drug Court, and the balance of his/her probation will convert to regular reporting probation. Upon completion of all probation terms, the Participant may be granted an early termination of probation, and in some cases (according to the terms of the individual's Drug Court Contract) felony adjudication may be avoided and/or some or all charges may be dropped.