Miami-Dade starts specialized drug court for military veterans

Miami-Dade starts specialized drug court for military veterans


For the first time, drug-addicted veterans facing low-level drug charges will get coordinated assistance from the Veterans Affairs agency and the courts.

BY DAVID OVALLE

DOVALLE@MIAMIHERALD.COM

Miami’s Terrell Cooper spent three years in the U.S. Air Force as a missile technician, but left in 2004 after his father and the mother of his baby died within a few months of each other.

Seven years later, Cooper, 30, has a steady job and four daughters — but is also battling addiction to cocaine and marijuana. On Friday, facing a cocaine possession charge, he became part of a fledgling Miami-Dade court program designed specially for veterans with drug problems like his.

Thanks to the new Veterans Court, Cooper will for the first time get coordinated services from the Department of Veterans Affairs and the county’s lauded Drug Court, offering the promise of specialized drug treatment and financial assistance returning to college.

“I feel more motivated,” said Cooper, a UPS delivery man. “I’ll be able to go to school, and move in a direction I’ve been wanting to move in.”

The Veterans Court is part of a growing nationwide movement of courts designated specifically for veterans, allowing them to avoid jail or prison by entering intense court-monitored drug rehabilitation. The concept is an extension of drug court, which first started in Miami more than two decades ago.

Miami’s Veterans Court is the 69th in 24 states across the country. It started in Buffalo, N.Y., three years ago to handle the crush of substance-abusing service men and women running afoul of the law after stints in Middle East conflict zones. That city’s program claims not a single graduate has been re-arrested, and people familiar with the other courts say anecdotal reports are encouraging.


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Miami-Dade starts specialized drug court for military veterans