IDK if drug court is lax; it's not here. To get in, one has to plead guilty to outstanding charges.
None of his 20 indictments related to me are for drugs. They're for theft, identity theft, and forgery. However, he has open cases separate from mine, and those involved drugs. So the prosecutor told me (in June?) that Mr. Wonderful was trying to get into drug court. If accepted, that means he'd have to plead guilty to everything else that was outstanding. He would not get jail/prison; he'd be on the 5 year program of treatment, probation, testing, etc. The way I see it, I am hopeful that he'd get into drug court because he needs help. If he ends up locked up for a year or two, when he comes out he will certainly not be rehabilitated, will probably go back to drugs and other crimes. If he does get into the program, and if he screws up and violates the parameters of drug court, then he'd automatically goes to jail for the length included in his plea bargains.
I'm sure it varies greatly state to state, even county to county, depending on size, availability of treatment, jail overcrowding...