Show here Inere J I co 1 I is Ii life fe a after meth liar nar Brannam Contributing Writer I dont don't know how I got there but I woke up on my bathroom floor naked with two g guns ns pointing at head T my This is is what Tooele Drug Court participant Jennifer Sachs said about Je the drug raid on her house that tha happened ed in April 2006 Tooele Drug Task Force officers barged through the door of her home at 3 Sam Sam- am a.m. after controlled a-controlled substance purchase had been made by an informant at the same location only a few hours before In In the bathroom of the home officers found a clandestine m lab and They handcuffed us and paraded us into the living room said Sachs Sachs lived in her house with her husband ex-husband and his two children ages 12 and 14 who were home and asleep in their beds at the time of the raid Drug Task Force officers broke a glass screen door when entering Once incarcerated Sa Sachs hs learned teamed she was facing federal prison She had 13 different gun and drug charges pending I figured I was done said Sachs who thought she would spend the next several years in p prison ison Her ex- ex husband was convicted on illegal gun possession by a restricted person and has been in jail since the raid at their home Because he Is is a convicted felon with unregistered guns in the residence he is now facing at least leasta a a decade in federal prison Sachs believes because of her husbands ex-husbands age and his bad health that she will never see him again Hell die in there said Sachs After being in jail over 90 days Sachs was told about the drug court program from other inmates at the Tooele County jail The number of those courts is increasing in Utah There are arc now 32 drug court programs in the state and participation has more than doubled since 2002 Drug Ding court programs consist of four different phases These four phases are called Intensive Treatment Living Life Clean Working Recovery and Comp of Drug Court The program takes participants a minimum of 13 months to to complete the intensive treatment groups drug testing and support groups For Sachs and the majority of the other participants drug court courtis is the difference between be receiving treatment for their addictions and going to prison When Sachs first tried to enter the program she was told by adult probation and parole p role that she didn't qualify AP P. P knew of her previous arrests and nd term long-term addictions to both heroin and They didn't want me said Sachs Sachs' Sachs mother came cameto cameto cameto to visit her in jail to tell Sachs of the difficulty she was having trying to get Sachs accepted into the program Then Ill I'll go to prison said Sachs Ill get out and Ill I'll do heroin and Ill I'll die However Sachs was allowed to enter the program and after some struggles in the beginning she is now doing well I think that's what keeps me going everyday Im I'm going to prove them wrong said 0 Sachs Before the raid on Sachs' Sachs house in April she lived a life of using and selling drugs For years Sachs used heroine and when she discovered e she combined the two every day dayI I wanted that ultimate high That's what I Ivas was vas was chasing said Sachs Today Sachs' Sachs life is completely different than it was less than a year ago She has a new relationship with a man who has never used drugs She has re reestablished reestablished reestablished re- re established a healthy relationship with her parents and her year old son Sachs attributes her success to the drug court program and her relationship with her Higher Power Today I have everything I need Everything I own is new and it has no memories of the past students who find they may be struggling with alcohol or drug addictions can seek help from the Health and Wellness Center Students can speak k with witha a licensed social worker about their problems and the service is completely confidential |