Tri-City Herald, By Cameron Probert
Dustin Sydnes would be the first to say that Franklin County’s therapeutic court is not the easy choice. When the 39-year-old began the program, he suddenly found himself responsible for going to inpatient treatment several times a week, attending regular meetings with his caseworker and other classes. All at the same time he was going for regular drug testing and court hearings.
Missing any of the meetings could lead to sanctions and, if it happened often enough, lead to him getting booted out of the program. “Jail is easier,” Sydnes told the Tri-City Herald after his recent graduation. “People who enter into recovery court, they have to be motivated to stay clean and to have whatever charges dropped.” But for Sydnes, who battled drug addiction for more than a decade, Franklin County’s Therapeutic Court seemed like a way to escape the cycle of finding himself drawn back to using drugs and then committing crimes, he said. Sydnes was the second graduate from the Franklin County program, which started in February 2024. It aims to give people struggling with addiction the tools they need to stop using drugs. It was started by Franklin County District Court Judge Trinity Orosco.
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