One month and more than 1,000 arrests later, state and local officials on Wednesday announced the latest step in Operation Rio Grande: A new drug court for those rounded up in the crackdown who want treatment.
Thirty-five people went before a 3rd District judge on Wednesday on the first day of the program, created to help handle the influx of defendants arrested in the last month.
The court, though, is not run like a typical courtroom in the Matheson courthouse. It’s less rigid, more celebratory.
There’s clapping every time someone says how long they’ve been clean.