Julie talks about her experience with the Spokane Drug Court Program
My name is Julie, I’ve been in Spokane for about 20 years now. I was a recovering meth addict for about 7 or 8 years, and I am about 2 years clean now. I got into my criminal behavior from my drug abuse. I was a functioning addict for the first five or six years, and then the last year of my addiction everything started to fall apart. I went to jail 3 times within just a couple of months, and I was looking at a couple of different felonies, and I got into drug court. And the drug court program really is what saved my life.
Interviewee: Julie when you started getting into drugs what do you think drove you in that direction in your life?
Julie: My boyfriend, my social outlets, my friends, my environment, it was what was cool.
Interviewee: And coming out of it you mentioned the role the drug court played. Can you talk a little bit about your experience in drug court, how you were introduced to it, and what you got out of it?
Julie: Yeah, my public defender visited me in jail the last time I was there and she suggested drug court to me. Drug court saved my life; it gave me an intensive, therapeutic treatment program. And gave me the opportunity to get felonies off of my record, that I wouldn’t have had those opportunities if I was just thrown in prison.
Interviewee: What would you like your neighbors and your community to know about you?
Julie: That it is possible to get clean and it is possible to have a future.
