BENTONVILLE -- Cara Easter thought the Benton County Drug Court would be easy when she entered the program. She graduated Thursday, three and a half years later.
Her two daughters and other family members surrounded Easter, 26, as she was honored during a session of drug court where she and four others graduated from the program.
About the program
Benton County Drug Court was founded in 2001 and hundreds of people successfully have completed the program. The program is 15 months of comprehensive drug treatment, close supervision and full accountability. The court is staffed to treat between 180 and 200 people.
Source: Staff report
Easter of Bella Vista was arrested in 2013 in connection with residential burglary and theft of property. Her case was transferred to drug court.
"It's been a long journey," she said. "I came in as a 22-year-old child, and I thought it was going to be a cakewalk."
Easter said she wasn't serious about the program in the beginning, which hindered her path.
Benton County Circuit Judge Tom Smith said some participants think drug court is easy, but soon find the program is rigorous. There are drug tests at least twice a week and daily calls to probation officers to see if they were randomly selected to be drug tested, Smith said. Participants also have to complete five hours of community service a month, attend three to five support or counseling meetings a week and maintain a job.
The program brings structure and accountability, Smith said. Most people with addictions aren't used to organization and structure is new to them, he said.
"It's a tough program," Smith said. "You have to really want it to make it through."
Easter was in the program for about five months when she started to use drugs again. She then spent several months in rehabilitation. She relapsed and suffered setbacks after using prescription drugs and methamphetamine on different occasions.
She hit bottom when she lost custody of her daughters.
"My kids were taken away from," Easter said. "I had lost everything."
She credits Smith and the drug court team for not giving up on her.
"I thought they would terminate me and just forget about me," she said.
Easter was allowed to remain in the program. She started to take it seriously. She regained custody of her children.
Graduation was a sad and happy occasion, she said. Sad because for three and a half years the drug court team and its other participants had been supporters and like another family to her. Now, she was leaving them.
Happy came when she told her daughters she was graduating.
"They gave me the biggest hugs and told me that they loved the mommy that they have today," Easter said. "That's the most incredible feeling in the world.
Smith told Easter on Thursday that her time in drug court was like a roller coaster -- full of highs and lows.
"I've grown up a lot," Easter told Smith. "It's an amazing program."
Dee Scritchfield, a deputy public defender assigned to drug court, said Easter has come a long way.
"She's a different person, and she's a very smart girl," Scritchfield said. "We did not give up on her, but more importantly she did not give up on herself. She did everything that we asked her to do."
About 85 percent of the participants successfully complete the 15-month program, Smith said. Few participants go through the program without any sanctions.
"It takes some people longer to complete," he said.
Easter is great example of not giving up, Smith said.
She now looks to the future.
"I'm just excited to see where my life goes from here," Easter said. "It can only get better from what I learned in drug court."
General News on 01/04/2017