Drug court is an alternative to incarceration for those who qualify for the program.

According to the National Association of Drug Court Professionals, people receive treatment for a minimum of one year, including intensive treatment and other services necessary to get and stay clean and sober, being held accountable by the judge during required meetings and random and regular drug tests."It is intense," Carbon County Judge Joseph Matika said. "It is an intensive program in time and effort. It involves the court system. It involves the defendants. ... There are incentives and sanctions. You do well you get incentives, you screw up there are sanctions."Matika admitted that he doesn't like sentencing people to short-term rehabilitations because he feels those programs don't work enough to get people to the point in their lives that will help them overcome the addiction.Christopher Sorrentino, case management supervisor for Carbon-Monroe-Pike Drug and Alcohol Commission, said the problems people face though are insurance doesn't always cover long-term rehab services, meaning they can start the process, but may fall back into old patterns once insurance stops paying for services.At Carbon-Monroe-Pike Drug and Alcohol Commission, Sorrentino said that the staff aims to stress the importance of finding other support systems, including Narcotics and Alcohol Anonymous groups, church groups, Celebrate Recovery and families, in addition to their treatment."Drug court is saying you realize you can't prosecute your way out of this problem," Sorrentino said. "It provides an alternative to seek treatment and sometimes that is still a tough nut to crack. Some will go through treatment, some will go through motions and get nothing out of treatment."