It is that time of year again, the time when high school and college seniors will become graduates of their institutions. We wish all graduates from the Greater Nashua area the best of luck in their future endeavors.

Dream big!

However, another class of graduates also deserves recognition. This group consists of Shawn Brady, Ken Coon, Steven Giguere and Brandi Hamm, who last week graduated from the Nashua Drug Court program.

“Their combined history reflects in excess of 25 criminal arrests and convictions, both for misdemeanors and felonies in which they have been repeatedly incarcerated,” Judge Jacalyn Colburn said of the graduates during their ceremony last week. “Without the drug court option, each drug court participant is very likely headed to a significant period of incarceration, often years in prison.”

Since its inception in 2014, the program has celebrated the graduation of 42 people who got another chance at staying clean. Greater Nashua Mental Health has been the primary provider of the treatment services for program participants since it began.

Colburn said enrollees must complete more than 400 hours of treatment before graduating, and participating in a number of therapies designed to redirect and stop the negative criminal thinking patterns. Additionally, they have completed hundreds of hours of community services along the way, as well.

We salute these graduates for finishing the Nashua Drug Court program, thus, giving themselves a new chance in life. Whether they became hooked on heroin, fentanyl, meth, cocaine or some other drug, Brady, Coon, Giguere and Hamm, along with the graduates who preceded them, are not bad people. They merely made mistakes in their lives, which everyone is bound to do at some point.

We hope they take advantage of their new opportunities to become clean and productive members of society.

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