Question: If a defendant has a substance abuse problem and is charged with a drug offense, is there a treatment option available instead of traditional sentencing in Oklahoma?
Answer: Yes. If somebody has a substance abuse problem and they are facing charges as a result of that substance abuse problem, Oklahoma has a number of what we call therapeutic courts which are available for people seeking treatment to explore. Some of these are referred to as drug court; there’s a DUI court, a mental health court, a veterans court and then there also are a few others. And these courts are designed specifically to provide treatment to individuals. These are not easy programs to complete, but there is a fairly high success rate with these programs.