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Recovery in the News
McShin Foundation Honors County Judges
Tom Lappas
Henrico Citizen
May 1, 2008
The McShin Foundation, a Richmond affiliate of the National Council on Alcoholism and Drug Dependence (NCADD), honored Henrico County Circuit Court judges Catherine Hammond (above, left) and Gary Hicks (right) April 28 at its Fourth Annual Spring Awards banquet, held at the Marquee in Richmond.
The foundation presented both judges with the NCADD’s Bronze Key Award, the highest honor that affiliates such as the McShin Foundation can present.
Hammond and Hicks are judges for Henrico County’s Drug Court, a structured program that offers nonviolent felony probation violators the opportunity to stay out of jail if they follow program guidelines. Those include weekly court appearances, daily reporting to the drug court team (for unemployed participants), random urine screenings, regular group meetings and a variety of others.
“It’s not an easy program,” Hicks said, adding that the program’s participants who have successfully rehabilitated themselves and become productive citizens were the true recipients of the award.
“What we see every day is men and women with no sense of purpose,” Hammond said. But for those who make the effort and complete Drug Court, “there’s truly a sense of recovery.”
“Liz,” one of the Drug Court’s success stories, told the audience last week that she had been drug-free for more than four years after using drugs every day for 21 years.
“Today my family trusts me,” she said. “Today my family wants to be around me.”
Keynote speaker Sen. Donald McEachin told the crowd that he would work during next year’s General Assembly session to find more funding for programs like the McShin Foundation and local drug courts, which cost far less per person than incarceration.
© 2008 Henrico Citizen