Adult Drug Treatment Court turns 3

Guyana’s only Adult Drug Treatment Court (DTC) is celebrating its third anniversary. Commissioned on October 21, 2019, the Adult DTC is housed in the Georgetown Magistrates’ Courts. It was established to aid in the rehabilitation and reintegration of persons with substance misuse disorders who commit non-violent offences.
The court was implemented with a non-traditional approach to the administration of justice. It combines and integrates two aspects of society; public health and criminal justice, to administer justice whilst fighting a societal phenomenon affecting men, women, and young adults.
It gives offenders an alternative to prison life and provides access to resources and professionals to lead persons who misuse substances to the road of recovery.
The programme tailored by the Drug Treatment Court essentially consists of four phases that subjects participants to various rules and requirements that were established to help reform and reintegrate them into society after graduation from the programme.
The programme lasts for a minimum of 13 months and the four phases are spread across this period. Each phase fundamentally builds on the previous phase and all participants must fulfil all of the requirements of all of the phases before they can graduate from the programme.
To move from one phase to another, participants must satisfy the requirements of their current phase and a completed application for phase movement form must be submitted by the participant to the case manager.
The first stage (choice) and the second stage (challenge) are for approximately 90 days. The third stage (change) lasts for approximately 120 days, while the fourth stage (continuing care) lasts for approximately 90 days. After completion of all of the stages, graduation from the programme is based on a positive recommendation by the approved treatment providers. The Drug Treatment Court takes a team approach and comprises professionals that collaborate to work with each participant to provide feasible solutions in the interest of the participant.
The team includes Magistrate, State Counsel, Defence Counsel, Police Officer, Probation Officer, Substance Misuse Treatment Provider, Case Manager, Mental Health Specialist, and any other person selected by the DTC team.
Currently, there is only one Adult Drug Treatment Court. There are, however, several Juvenile Drug Treatment Courts encompassing the 10 Magisterial Districts.
The Adult DTC can only be accessed by offenders within the Georgetown Magisterial District. Cognisant of this, the Supreme Court is working to establish other Adult Drug Treatment Courts for the benefit of offenders within the other Magisterial Districts.