7 graduate from District Court’s addiction treatment program

Seven people who avoided jail time by opting to overcome addiction became the first graduating class of a court drug program on Thursday.

The program, LIMA, or Law Enforcement Intervention for Mental Health and Addiction, is a partnership between District Court and the Metropolitan Police Department that sends people facing misdemeanor drug charges into recovery services.

The graduation included brief words of encouragement from Metro Capt. Roxanne Burke, Judge Linda Marie Bell and Hearing Commissioner Shannon Nordstrom, and the graduates who attended the ceremony shared their stories of sobriety.

Burke, who oversees Metro’s Office of Community Engagement, spoke about LIMA last week during a First Tuesday livestream when explaining that the program provided real-life skills. Though it takes several attempts for some people to be committed, she said she hoped it addressed the underlying issues that come with chemical dependency.

“As a great number that seven is, their success and their stories and their future is going to impact numerous generations to come and people that they can’t see and people they might not ever meet, but their success is going to change lives that far outreach the Las Vegas Valley and those in our community, and I’m so proud of the success that they are,” she said during Thursday’s graduation.

‘Better way to live’

Program coordinator Angel Lash presented the diplomas to Duane Austin, Elizabeth Greer, George Petty, Jason Alpert, Nakeia Henry, Ralph Washington and Stephanie Lilly.

Greer said she joined the program in August because, after living on the streets with no belongings, she wanted a better life.

“This whole program has helped me deal with parts of my life I thought that didn’t matter anymore, and it’s helped me to just be a better person, to show a better example to my family, to my children,” she said. “I hope that I can, in the future, help you guys bring more people into the program to see that this really is a better way to live.”

Six of the graduates are full-time employees who had reunited with their children. The seventh, Washington, had enrolled in college classes and was about to hit 14 months sober after entering the program in January 2020.

“I remember talking to Angel and she could tell you, I was broke and what keeps me going on this road is I go back to the pain, and I remember where I was a year ago,” Washington said. “But now, today, I’m in college and I’m going on 14 months clean and sober … It’s a struggle every day, but it’s a fight I’m willing to take to do what I got to do to be the person I want to be.”

‘Break the cycle’

LIMA offers voluntary enrollment in community programs for people being charged with low-level drug crimes, giving a chance for them to never enter the justice system or gain a criminal record for drug possession.

Applicants must be adults and are required to pass a background check that eliminates sex offenders and anyone with a history of drug trafficking. People with a violent history may also be disqualified, but the court considers violent charges on a case-by-case basis.

“LIMA serves the public by providing an alternative for those caught in the toxic cycle of incarceration (and) criminal activity, related to their substance use,” said Mary Ann Price, a court spokeswoman. “Through the assistance provided in the LIMA Program, participants have the ability to address the core issues that lead to their criminal activity, address their co-occurring issues, and help them gain self-sufficiency to break the cycle of addiction and crime.”

The graduates came from the Ronald McDonald House Charities of Greater Las Vegas, Freedom House Sober Living Las Vegas and CrossRoads of Southern Nevada, among other local support systems.

Since its first referral in February 2020, the program has attempted to help 166 people with housing, treatment and employment. As of Thursday’s graduation, 142 people had been granted four months of transitional housing through the program, 50 had found a primary care provider and another 50 had retained a job.

Lilly, the first referral from Metro into the program, said she had been reunited with her daughter, who had been removed from her custody through the courts. She is now employed and preparing to move into her own home.

“I had a rough time, and they know it,” she said. “But I got myself together, picked myself up and I keep on going.”

Contact Sabrina Schnur at sschnur@reviewjournal.com or 702-383-0278. Follow @sabrina_schnur on Twitter.