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Drug court receives over $99K
Acting governor Arnold I. Palacios signs House Local Bill 20-25, D1, which appropriates $99,788 to the CNMI Drug Court. The bill becomes Saipan Local Law 20-07. From left: Rep. Gregorio M. Sablan Jr., Rep. Joseph “Lee Pan” T. Guerrero, Rep. Ivan A. Blanco, Rep. Angel A. Demapan, Palacios, Saipan and Northern Islands Legislative Delegation chair Rep. John Paul P. Sablan, Rep. Alice S. Igitol, House vice speaker Rep. Janet U. Maratita, and Rep. Frank C. Aguon. (OFFICE OF THE GOVERNOR)
Acting governor Arnold I. Palacios signed Saipan Local Law 20-07 yesterday, appropriating over $99,000 for the CNMI Drug Court.
Authored by Saipan and Northern Islands Legislative Delegation chair Rep. John Paul Sablan (R-Saipan) and sponsored by Reps. Francisco C. Aguon (R-Saipan) and Blas Jonathan “BJ” Attao (Ind-Saipan), House Local Bill 20-25 was signed into law yesterday.
SLL 20-07 appropriates $99,788 to the CNMI Drug Court; it does not allow the funds to be reprogrammed.
The sum came from Public Law 18-30, or the Tourism Entertainment and Destination Enhancement Act of 2013, which taxed poker establishments per machine and imposed the poker licensing fee, in which a portion goes to the Saipan Higher Education Financial Assistance Program.
The drug court within the CNMI Superior Court boasts of a “collaborative non-adversarial system to effect the rehabilitation and recovery of drug offenders through continuous court monitoring, regular drug testing, and holistic drug dependency treatment.”
Seen as a unique type of criminal justice, the court focuses on long-term rehabilitation rather than punishment.
The CNMI Superior Court’s Drug Court is set to graduate seven of 12 participants later this year.
