By: Tim Schmidt
12/26/2008

Melissa Sherman has her life back.

A 1998 graduate of St. Dominic High School and 2000 St. Charles Community College graduate, last week’s graduating ceremony had a very different meaning than the previous ones for the Wright City resident.

No longer is Sherman classified as a drug user. Instead, she is a single mom of a 5-year-old son with a full-time job and a future full of promise. The alternative was a future locked away.

“I had thoughts where I wasn’t sure if I would make it,” said Sherman following her Drug Court graduation at the Warren County Courthouse Dec. 17. “The team had a lot of support for me. I had a lot of family support, too.”

Drug Court is designed to give offenders a second chance and erase past convictions. But in order to graduate, participants face extra scrutiny and an 18-month program structured to keep them clean.

Participants must attend weekly court appearances and counseling sessions, contact Drug Court officials every morning between 5:30 and 7:30 a.m., obey a 10 p.m. curfew, not leave the county without permission and perform a minimum of 40 hours of community service.

They also must submit to drug tests whenever they’re asked.

Keynote speaker at last week’s graduating ceremony, Missouri Supreme Court Judge William Ray Price Jr., said that more than 7,000 people in the state have graduated from Drug Court since the program was started 15 years ago. Of the ones who graduate, 90 percent never get into trouble again.

Currently, the state has 115 Drug Court programs which help reduce the prison populations and soften the blow for taxpayers. Price said it costs around $12,000 to incarcerate an individual compared to $2,000 to place them in Drug Court.

Unlike prison, Drug Court works.

“If their problem with drugs and alcohol is not cured, they never make it out of prison,” Price said. “If you don’t cure the addiction, you are looking at a life with a few brief vacations.”

Sherman said she began using drugs around 2000 while enrolled in college. Described as “being around the wrong people, places and things,” Sherman was hooked.

She then began to drift away family and friends.

“I pretty much lost everything,” Sherman said. “It was really tough.” By all accounts, Sherman excelled in ways no one else has since the program was implemented locally in 2002. Her current parole officer Jason Obermark said she never violated any requirement. In fact, she was never late for any type of Drug Court activity.

From Obermark to Associate Circuit Judge Wes Dalton to Bridgeway counselor Annalee Hastie-Plumb to Warren County Assistant Prosecutor Kate Busch, everyone marveled at Sherman’s commitment and dedication to the program.

“She never let me down,” Dalton told the crowd. “She never let the team down. I can’t tell you how proud I am of everything you’ve done.” “You are truly an inspiration,” Busch added.

Christie Becker-Markovich, 12th Judicial Circuit Court drug administrator, remembered when she was Sherman’s parole officer. She described Sherman as a timid and lost individual, unsure about where her life was headed.

“I didn’t know what she wanted to be,” Becker-Markovich said. “But from Day 1, she wanted more for her and her son. That became her passion.”

Near the end of the ceremony, Sherman’s past went up in smoke. With her charges for felony drug possession rolled up, she placed the piece of paper in a candle and held it proudly as flames lit the end. Sherman beamed as she watched.

“It was awesome,” she said. “It was probably the best feeling I’ve ever had in my life.”

Afterward, Sherman embraced each of her family members and friends who came to support her positive lifestyle change. Sherman’s biggest hugs, though, were saved for her son and parents.

Finally, after years of running away from the truth, a second opportunity awaited her.

Melissa Sherman can again be herself.

“I can be anything I want to be,” she said. “I can do anything I want to do.”