By Cynthia Grau/WJEZ News

Drug Court had been historically hotly debated in Livingston County over the past several years, but with the work those supporters of the specialized court, it is now a reality.

State’s Attorney Randy Yedinak talked about all the work that had to be done to make it happen.

“In Illinois, in order to run one of these drug courts, a problem solving court, you have to be certified by the administrative office of the Illinois Courts, so there’s a lengthy application process that goes with that, so we’ve been going back and forth with them, but we finally received the certification last week that we are now certified and we can now officially start running our drug court operation in Livingston County. We are very excited. We had our first staffing today. So it’s been a very good thing.

He also explained what exactly a drug court is.

“Drug court is exactly what it sounds like, in that we’re trying to stamp out the addiction. If we can help or resolve the addiction issues the individual has, that’s going to then take a snowball effect, and a lot of the property crimes you see (burglaries, criminal damage to property, thefts) are individuals who are addicted to controlled substances and other drugs and they’re committing these crimes to feel their habit. So, if you can stamp out the addiction, if you can get to the root of the problem, that’s going to have a snowball effect on the rest of the crime in Livingston County and we’re hoping to make an impact with this drug court,” Yedinak said.

Yedinak was a guest on a recent Community Forum, which can be found at WJEZ.com.