Lindsay Arf was popular in high school but struggled academically. So she skipped classes and started smoking weed.
Believing she wouldn't get into college, she started dancing at a strip club where her cousin worked. The next 12 years devolved into a painful life of drug addiction and sexual exploitation.
While high, Arf was arrested on mail theft. She begged to be allowed into Hennepin County's Drug Court, an intensive treatment program that helped her sister into recovery.
Now 35 and sober for 2 ½ years, she's a paid public speaker who also works with sexually abused and exploited victims. In an upbeat and personal ceremony Friday, Arf and 37 other people celebrated graduation from drug court. Sharing their stories of recovery from addiction is part of the healing process.
"Drug court has given me back my life," Arf said. "It's a hard program, but not that hard if you don't pick up [drugs again]. If you do, tragic things happen."
Hennepin County started the state's first drug court in 1997. The voluntary post-conviction program, which lasts at least 12 months, accepts nonviolent, felony property and drug offenders at high risk to reoffend. Participants are guided by a team consisting of a judge, a prosecutor, a defense attorney, law enforcement, social services, probation and treatment specialists.
Progress is rewarded for meeting goals, and noncompliant behavior is swiftly punished, said District Judge Gina Brandt, who supervises drug court. Offenders are placed under intensive community supervision, undergo frequent drug testing and engage in long-term chemical dependency treatment. They also get job training, education and family counseling, Brandt said.
A very high percentage of people entering the program have severe addiction. A 2017 study of the drug court found that 60 percent of those who completed it didn't reoffend and had no new warrants after two years. More than one in five obtained more stable housing and better education and employment.