 As a member of the Judiciary Committee, Democratic Senator Amy Klobuchar has introduced bills to increase funding to substance abuse treatment programs. As Mal Meyer reports from Walker, the senator met with representatives from the many agencies working on the Leach Lake-Cast County Wellness Court who could benefit from the increased funds. During the meeting held at the Cast County Courthouse today, the leaders told Senator Klobuchar just how far they've come over the last 10 years. When we got started, we figured that there had to be another model out there somewhere where a tribe in the state were working together and we found out that we were the model. Those looking at drug or alcohol-related charges can elect to go into the program to receive a lighter sentence, get out of jail, and start working towards sobriety. The Wellness Court just gave me a kind of foundation of the bill of blocks I needed to control my addiction as well as I could. Right now, 17 people are in the five-step program. Melissa Wilson is looking forward to graduation in June. It's meaningful, you know, when somebody graduates. It's just not like, okay, bye, you're done, you know, with your probation, you're done, let's go. The model hit home for the senator, whose father is an alcoholic. So I saw the effect that had when he went to treatment and his finally got his act together and it really made a difference. Now the representatives look for the senator to carry their message to D.C. to continue funding for this and similar programs. There were cynivism rates at one time. We went from around 60% of cynivism, I believe it was, down to less than 7%. The one thing we know for sure is the way we were doing it before, traditionally, it was not really working. In Walker, I'm Mal Meyer, Lakeland News. Senator Klobuchar recently introduced legislation that would impose a fee on opioid prescriptions to be used for misuse treatment programs like the Wellness Court. If you've enjoyed this segment of Lakeland News, please consider making a tax-deductible contribution to Lakeland Public Television.