Drug Courts ─ A New Approach to Treatment and Rehabilitation

This concise yet comprehensive reference is the first of its kind and draws on the authors’ personal teaching file of cases from the Adult Drug Court in California. The book offers unparalleled insight into the drug court system and the medical problems of drug court patients. It is the first book of its kind in the family medicine literature. The authors share their extensive knowledge of addiction and withdrawal, treatment of patients with dual diagnoses of mental illness and addiction, and treatment of drug-associated diseases such as tuberculosis, hepatitis, and HIV.

Dr. James Lessenger has practiced occupational and environmental medicine for more than two decades in California's San Joaquin Valley. In addition to keeping an active clinical practice, Lessenger is a Medical Review Officer on drug testing for the Department of Transportation and a consultant to many corporations and companies on drug testing, workplace drug issues, and industrial injuries. Dr. Lessenger has been a consultant to the Tulare County drug court since its inception in 1996 and was responsible for an exhaustive review of the system in 2001.

Glade F. Roper, JD is the presiding Adult Drug Court judge for rural Tulare County. He started and has maintained the Drug Court since 1996 and has been a jurist in the county since 1989. He created and has taught the Advanced Drug Court Track at the National Rural Institute on Alcohol and Drug Abuse for the last four years and speaks across the nation about rural drug courts and treatment issues.