Johnson County Drug Treatment Court (or Drug Court) began roughly a dozen years ago and helped countless probationers turn their lives around and avoid prison.
Drug Court is a national program where drug probationers who have prison as their only other option are given intensive, hands-on community resources based on the understanding that substance abuse is not an inherently criminal act. These members are given access to substance abuse and employment services, and have weekly meetings with a judge and probation officer. The program is successful on a national scale for several reasons, including the amount of peer resources and immediacy of consequences.
Sadly, funding became an issue and the program was officially dissolved in Johnson County. The sister program in Linn County continues.