Article: Drug Court requires acupuncture for some repeat offenders

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Drug Court requires acupuncture for some repeat offenders

 

By Hailey Heinz

Albuquerque Journal

 

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. - There are many consequences of a DWI conviction. Mug

shots are published in the newspaper, interlocks are installed and jail time

is sometimes served.

 

For those who opt into Metropolitan Court's Drug and DWI court, one of the

requirements is 16 hours of acupuncture treatment.

 

Since the Drug Court's inception in 1997, acupuncture has been part of the

treatment regimen. To qualify, offenders must have between two and five

alcohol- or drug-related convictions. Drug Court aims to help offenders

overcome their addictions, and acupuncture's role is to ease the symptoms of

withdrawal and help them relax and stick to the program.

 

" It opens them up and gives them a clearer mind, " said Daniel Blackwood,

executive director of The Evolution Group Inc. Evolution is a counseling

center that contracts with Drug Court for acupuncture, counseling and the

court's other requirements.

 

Blackwood said recovering addicts suffer from a variety of problems,

including insomnia, difficulty concentrating, extreme emotional reactions

and physical coordination difficulties.

 

Withdrawal can make it hard for offenders to get better.

 

" All of these symptoms can interfere with their counseling, " said

Metropolitan Court Judge Cristina Jaramillo, who presides over Drug Court.

" It can make it very difficult. " Acupuncture is an ancient form of

alternative medicine that aims to restore and maintain health by stimulating

specific points on the body with tiny needles. The type of acupuncture used

in Drug Court is guided by the theory that points in the ear correspond to

everything else in the body. In her sessions, acupuncturist Lora Stonecipher

pricks the points that correspond to the heart, kidney, liver, lung and

spleen. Doing so eases pain and stabilizes moods, she said.

 

Acupuncture's effectiveness is hard to show conclusively. But some studies

have linked ear-based acupuncture to the production of endorphins, which

help suppress pain and boost mood.

 

Jaramillo said Bernalillo County's court is based on a national model. The

treatment can take as little as nine months if offenders don't slip, but

Jaramillo said most people take about a year to get through it, and some can

be involved for much longer.

 

Acupuncture is widely used in hundreds of drug courts around the country,

she said. Although most offenders are initially reluctant to undergo

acupuncture treatment, Blackwood said many become converts.

 

Sixteen hourlong sessions are required during the first phase of Drug Court,

when withdrawal symptoms are most acute. Those sessions are funded by

Metropolitan Court at no cost to offenders, and if they find it helpful,

they are encouraged to come back for more at a cost of $5 per session,

Blackwood said.

 

Drug Court acupuncture is done in group settings, with offenders getting

five needles in each ear. Often they have to build up to it, Stonecipher

said. Stonecipher said that, at an offender's first session, she asks only

that they take one needle and see how they like it. The next time, she'll

put five needles in one ear only, then work up to both ears. People are

often nervous, she said, but usually they relax after the first tiny prick.

Stonecipher effortlessly puts in all 10 needles in less than a minute,

despite the precision required. Offenders sit together in the room and relax

for an hour before the needles are removed, she said. Some even ask for

additional needles for other aches and pains. James Cioe, an alcohol and

drug abuse counselor, said addicts in the early stages of withdrawal suffer

from a lack of endorphins and other feel-good chemicals produced naturally

by the body.

 

He said stimulating those chemicals makes a successful recovery more likely.

Cioe, himself a recovered addict, has been a drug and alcohol counselor for

15 years. He now works as a case manager for Bernalillo County but spent

most of that time in other settings, including six years at Healthcare for

the Homeless. Cioe said acupuncture helped ease his recovery, and he sees it

working for those he helps. " You're increasing the odds of hanging on to an

addict instead of losing them back onto the streets searching for the drug, "

he said. Blackwood said some offenders object to the acupuncture requirement

because of the time it takes. Those in Drug Court are also required to have

a job, be enrolled in school or participate in community service, while

attending counseling sessions and meetings with their judge. " I tell them,

'Yeah, you need to take an hour out of your day for your poor body that

you've been abusing all these years,' " Blackwood said. The response to

treatment varies, he said. " You get a range from 'Oh, my God, this is

amazing, and I even quit smoking' to 'I didn't feel anything,' " he said.

 

Copyright 2009 Albuquerque Journal