FILE – In this March 28, 2016 file photo, Georgia Gov. Nathan Deal speaks during a news conference in Atlanta. Tuesday, Nov. 8 presidential results and Georgians’ rejection of a proposed amendment to the state constitution are already having an effect on the upcoming legislative session. Health care and education issues were expected to dominate 2017 at the Capitol. But key policymakers say discussions about expanding Medicaid in Georgia are likely on hold. Deal says he’s mulling options after voters rejected allowing a state takeover of some schools. (AP Photo/David Goldman) For years, Georgia’s governor has championed a program to help drug addicts recover.
And for years, a North Georgia judge stood in defiance of the idea, one of the last holdouts in the state. But that judge, Jon “Bo” Wood, retired two months ago. And with his departure, local law enforcement and courthouse leaders promise a change is coming.
Judge Kristina Cook Graham, who replaced Wood as the chief judge in the Lookout Mountain Judicial Circuit, said she hopes to bring a drug court to the region by summer 2018. Local officials will spend next year figuring out how to launch the operation, learning how many employees they need and how much outside funding they can get.
“We’re trying to do it to help people and better the citizens that are going through the justice system,” said Catoosa County Sheriff Gary Sisk, who pushed years ago for a drug court, only to be rebuffed by Wood. “The process we have now isn’t really getting it done.”
Drug courts aren’t new. Whitfield County launched one in 2002. Hamilton County’s opened in 2004.