New tests in Minnehaha target meth users

Minnehaha County is launching a random drug-testing program for methamphetamine users this month, hoping to duplicate the success of the state’s 24/7 sobriety program for alcohol users.

Participants call a phone number every morning to find out whether they’ll be tested for drugs that day. Those who are selected to test that day will submit samples at the Glory House in Sioux Falls.

If the caller is late checking in, misses a test on a scheduled day or tests positive, he or she immediately will go to jail and appear before a judge the following day.

The program, which already has been tested in a rural setting in Walworth County, is similar to the 24/7 sobriety program, which uses twice-daily breath tests for most participants as a bond or sentencing condition for repeat offenders of driving under the influence or for probationers who struggle with alcohol addiction.

The program adds one more alternative sentencing option for drug offenders. The 24/7 alcohol program already incorporates some some drug testing, including patches and urine testing.

The testing scheme is more predictable and involves sanctions based on results.

Others charged with methamphetamine possession in Minnehaha County end up in drug court, with weekly court sessions and intensive probation programs.

Some offenders take part in the methamphetamine alternative program, which scrubs a person’s record for a period of sobriety.

The new program, called HOPE, is designed to expand the reach of monitoring to those who might not qualify for those existing drug programs.

“This is a program for everybody else,” Judge Larry Long said.

People could be ordered into the HOPE program for theft or domestic violence charges as well, Long said, as long as it’s clear that drug addiction is driving the criminal behavior.

“The idea behind it is that if you can get someone off the drugs, they’ll stop burglarizing the pharmacy, he’ll quit beating his wife, or he’ll quit forging checks or whatever else they’re doing to feed their addiction,” Long said.

The program was created at the behest of the state through last year’s criminal justice reform. The reform envisioned a rural and an urban pilot program.

The rural pilot project has been running in Walworth County since January, and Judge Scott Myren said he’s seen success.

The 15 participants in his program report to Selby or Mobridge. The small county started with 18 participants and discharged three people. One was sent to the South Dakota State Penitentiary for repeated failures, Myren said, but other participants stayed clean, with occasional relapses.

“Most of them are people I would have immediately have sent to prison, if not for this program,” Myren said.

One benefit, Myren said, is that the HOPE program helps him determine how much treatment an offender needs to change his or her behavior.

“It’s helped to determine which ones are capable of changing on their own and which ones are actually addicts who can’t,” Myren said. “It lets us target our resources where they’re most needed.”

Minnehaha County will begin with 20 participants, but could add as many as needed, Long said.

One difference between 24/7 and HOPE is that a failed urine test in South Dakota carries the potential for a new felony charge. Myren said his county’s state’s attorney doesn’t automatically charge a HOPE program participant.

“The agreement we have is that when they test hot in the HOPE court, they are sanctioned through the HOPE court,” Myren said.

Minnehaha County will operate in a similar fashion, Minnehaha County State’s Attorney Aaron McGowan said, unless the situation warrants additional charges.

“Generally, the automatic sanction will serve as punishment for the hot (urinalysis),” McGowan said. “However, the state’s attorney reserves the right to consider additional charges when the circumstances make it prudent to do so.”