Drug Court Celebrates 15 Years!
The Cuyahoga County Common Pleas Drug Court program is celebrating it's 15th year!
In 2019, then Administrative and Presiding Judge Nancy McDonnell appointed Judge David T. Matia to oversee the Court’s first felony Drug Court docket, modeled after one Judge Larry Jones started a few years earlier in Cleveland Municipal Court.
The goal of Drug Courts is simple: break the cycle of recidivism by addressing an offender’s drug dependency, and our court now has four dockets!
Judge Matia currently heads up what is known as the Medically Assisted Treatment docket, which takes advantage of medication to fight addiction…a word that he says is no longer appropriate. Judge Joan C. Synenberg’s Recovery Court treats primarily victims of human trafficking who also are diagnosed with trauma. Judge William T. McGinty’s Helping Others Prosper Now (HOPE) docket is focused on those most likely to reoffend. The standard Drug Court docket is presided over by Judge Kelly A. Gallagher.
To celebrate the 15th anniversary of Drug Court, the Court has produced a video that looks at the history, accomplishments, and future of this critical specialty docket.