HARRISON COUNTY, Ky. (LEX 18) — In Harrison County, the mayor of Cynthiana declared this month Specialty Courts Month. Specialty courts include mental health court, veterans treatment court, and drug court.
At one point, Harrison County was in the top ten in the nation for drug overdoses, according to Drug Court Program Director Kelli Kinney.
"With the opioid epidemic, we were hit really hard," said Kinney.
Kinney oversees drug court for Harrison, Pendleton, Nicholas and Robertson counties. Drug court is mandated by a judge for people in the court system to get clean and sober.
"They don't want to live in that world of substance use anymore, so many of them have told themselves over and over again I'm not going to use, they tell their families I'm not going to use, and in that moment they truly mean it," said Kinney.
With the help of drug court, Kinney says participants can find stability and consistency. Currently she has around 70 people in the program, with many more already graduated.
"They have become successful, they have learned to live a sober life outside of the court system, they start businesses, they earn college degrees and we have several that are working in recovery," said Kinney.
She says there's a panel of volunteers that are there to walk with the participants hand in hand.
"It's a combination effort of law enforcement, courts, the communities and there are so many individuals involved that you would never think about," said Kinney.
Kinney invites the community to show their support by attending a graduation. They also welcome more second chance employers in the area.
