Public Safety

Serious Teen Drug Abusers Find Success in Juvenile Drug Court

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Now 18, Kaitlynn Lewis started smoking pot with friends in the upper grades of elementary school.

“To me it was normal,” the young woman reflected.

Kaitlynn’s “normal” would come to include shooting up heroin by age 15, and what she calls “stupid” crimes committed while she was under the influence of drugs— and a circle of drug addicted adult friends.

Fortunately for Kaitlynn, on the brink of her own adulthood, she was sentenced to Juvenile Drug Court, a structured program that helped her to finally live a sober, straight life. Kaitlynn is one of 55 local teens who will celebrate their graduation from Drug Court Wednesday night at the Vista Hill Stein Education Center in San Diego.

“It’s a milestone and an honor,” Kaitlynn said. “I’m going to go see all these people who have been going through the same program and same experiences I have. Sharing your story helps other people, too.”

Master of ceremonies for Wednesday’s graduation is local radio personality Tommy Sablan of Jeff and Jer fame. Sablan is one of a lineup of inspirational speakers who will congratulate the graduates and encourage them to remain on their positive course.

When they entered the Drug Court program, like Kaitlynn, the teens graduating Wednesday had a history of serious substance abuse struggles and were on probation for various offenses.

Graduation from Drug Court means each young person achieved nine months of continuous sobriety and lawful behavior in a program of intensive substance abuse treatment, frequent drug testing and court appearances, individual and family counseling, rewards—such as gift cards and field trips–for progress, and sanctions for violating probation terms or resuming drug use.

For Kaitlynn, Drug Court worked in part because of her previous failures. She said she’s not sure why she was ready for the program to finally work—she just was.

Maybe, she says, it was partly her own maturity. Her serious drug use started amid a sense of anger and rebelliousness that gripped Kaitlynn at age 14 when her mom moved the family from Ohio to San Diego. Kaitlynn said she couldn’t see why her mom tore her away from her friends.

“I was an angry little 14-year old,” she said.

Within three months, Kaitlynn dropped out of high school. By the time she was 15, she was spending her days with people in their 20s—and she was using heroin.

“I thought I was grown up, but I really wasn’t,” Kaitlynn said.

Arrests, being on probation, getting into other drugs like meth—Kaitlynn said none of it really convinced her she had a problem.

“I was in and out of juvenile hall, but I didn’t care.”

“They open your eyes to the better opportunities in life.
-Kaitlynn Lewis, Juvenile Drug Court graduate

But last year, during a court-ordered residential treatment program in Orange County, Kaitlynn said she began to take getting off drugs seriously for the first time.

“I still to this day can’t pinpoint what made me change,” she said.

When she returned to San Diego from the rehab program, still on probation, Kaitlynn said her County public defender, Danny Ybarra, advocated allowing her to try the Drug Court program again. She’d failed once, repeatedly testing positive for drugs. But this time, Kaitlynn said, things were different.

Like adult Drug Court, Juvenile Drug Court is a collaborative approach to justice and rehabilitation. In the juvenile program, Superior Court commissioners and representatives from the County Public Defender’s Office, the District Attorney’s Office, the Probation Department, the Health and Human Services Agency and contractor Vista Hill meet weekly to discuss and monitor the progress of each youth in the program. Despite entering the program with serious substance abuse issues, about 80 percent of youth graduate successfully from Drug Court.

Kaitlynn said the regular encouragement and positive interactions with Ybarra, the Vista Hill counselors, and her probation officer kept her successful and sober through Drug Court.

“All the staff are awesome; they’re people you get to know, and you feel really comfortable with them,” she said.

Though she finished the structured Drug Court program in January, Kaitlynn said knowing these people care about her helps keeps her straight.

“The fact that they’ve reassured me they’re a phone call away really helps,” she said.

The San Diego teen’s plans include finishing high school credits—she’s just a month away—then perhaps nursing school or college.

That she’s making plans for a self-sufficient, drug free future is partly credited to the inspirational figures who guided her through Drug Court, Kaitlynn said.

“They open your eyes to the better opportunities in life.”