Sonoma County drug court helps Santa Rosa mom turn life around

Jasmine Roper is graduating from drug court for a second time.

The 39-year-old Santa Rosa woman went through the outpatient treatment program two years ago, but couldn’t break her addiction to methamphetamine, alcohol and pot.

Roper fell hard after two of her kids were taken by child protective services, started using drugs again and got arrested in a string of burglaries.

Facing a possible prison term, she pleaded with drug court officials to let her back in, saying she’d hit rock bottom and was ready to start a true recovery.

Fourteen months later, she has a job, custody of her 3-year-old daughter, Emilee, and no desire to return to a life of drugs and crime.

“Everything about my life is different today,” said Roper as she stood before Ken Gnoss, drug court’s presiding judge, Thursday. “I’m definitely living it.”

Roper, who graduates April 7, is among hundreds to go through the average yearlong program aimed at getting people off drugs rather than sending them to prison. Supporters say treatment will give them a better chance of remaining law-abiding.

For many, it’s a last chance after failing less-rigorous treatment programs offered by the courts for first-time offenders and those needing less supervision.

Participants are subjected to random testing up to seven days a week, attend group and individual counseling and appear regularly before the judge, who is a former prosecutor and Los Angeles police officer.

He’s a stickler for rules and punishes those who break them. Being late for a testing appointment or court date can lead to a weekend in jail.

At the same time, the atmosphere in court is relaxed and informal. Gnoss chats up each participant, asking them how they’re doing. The room erupts in applause when someone new is admitted or announces progress.

“It’s nice to see how committed you are to your child,” Gnoss told one woman who appeared before him carrying her baby.

Another woman who recently had been released from jail into the program stood before him in civilian clothes for the first time.

“I know it’s really tough in the beginning,” he told her. “Think you can handle it? Beats the alternative.”

They will rely heavily on Mike Perry, the chief deputy public defender, to keep them on the straight and narrow.

Perry said about 75 percent make it all the way through to graduation. Just what they do after that is unclear because the court doesn’t have the ability to track those statistics.

But he said everyone is shown what they need to do to stay clean and sober and crime-free. The 19-year-old program runs on a budget of about $600,000, he said.

“We have the most successful treatment program in Sonoma County,” Perry said. “Research shows intensive outpatient treatment generally works as well as residential treatment.”

Roper has come a long way since her days as a drug-addicted teen running wild in Guerneville and Santa Rosa. She went on to have three children while amassing a rap sheet that included petty crimes and break-ins.

“I started doing drugs at 13,” she says. “I made a lot of bad choices.”

After flunking out of less-strict drug treatment programs the county had to offer, Roper was admitted to drug court two years ago. She went through the motions and graduated only to pacify Child Protective Services, she says.

But that approach failed her. She was forced to give up her first two children for adoption and relapsed shortly after getting out.

Roper’s mother, also a drug addict, died of an overdose in February 2014, just after Roper was accepted back into the program.

It was a painful time, but she made it.

“If it wasn’t for drug court, I don’t know what would have happened,” she says. “The judge cared so much. Mr. Perry is amazing. His support is unconditional.”

Now, Roper is living with her daughter and father, working for a limousine company as a driver and looking toward her goal of someday opening her own business.

Her days start early with a call-in to the test center. She takes her daughter to daycare before attending an Alcoholics Anonymous meeting or sitting down with a sponsor to work on her 12-step program.

Nights and weekends are spent driving sometimes-inebriated customers around Wine Country. To make ends meet, she also delivers pizza.

“I love driving,” she said.

She also cherishes her drug court friends, many of whom have remained sober long after graduation. Those who don’t often wind up back in the system. More than a few have overdosed and died, she said.

In the end, people have to want to break free of the cycle for it to work.

“Drug court can only do so much,” Roper said. “It can’t hold your hand. It’s really up to us. But if you want to change your life, it can guide you through all the way.”

You can reach Staff Writer Paul Payne at 568-5312 or paul.payne@pressdemocrat.com. On Twitter @ppayne.