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Drug court bill to be made law
The bill to establish a drug court in the Commonwealth is to be made law this week.
Acting governor Ralph Torres is scheduled to sign the measure, House Bill 19-94, this Wednesday in front of Cabinet members, lawmakers and other officials in the Office of the Governor’s conference room on Capital Hill.
The growing scourge of methamphetamine or “ice” use in the CNMI has driven public consensus in establishing the drug court.
The bill first passed the House of Representatives in late August. The Senate passed the bill in October without amendments.
The bill establishes a specialized court that incorporates drug dependency treatment with continuous judicial supervision for qualifying defendants, for both adults and juveniles.
The bill will establish a drug court within the Commonwealth Superior Court to operate 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.”
The bill was introduced by Rep. Joseph “Lee Pan” Guerrero (R-Saipan).
