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Filed Under:Anna Duckworth, Crime, Drug Czar, Drugs, Gil Kerlikowske, Judge Cynthia Ming-mei Lee, Judge Lillian Sing, San Francisco, San Francisco Criminal Justice Center, San Francisco Superior Court
Gil Kerlikowske, director of National Drug Control Policy, testifies before Western Hemisphere, Peace Corps, and Global Narcotics Affairs Subcommittee hearing on 'A Shared Responsibility: Counternarcotics and Citizen Security in the Americas' at the Dirksen Senate Building in Washington, DC, on March 31, 2011. (Jewel Samad / AFP / Getty Images) Gil Kerlikowske, director of National Drug Control Policy. (Jewel Samad / AFP / Getty Images)

SAN FRANCISCO (KCBS) — President Barack Obama’s “drug czar” visited San Francisco Superior Court Tuesday to get a first-hand look at a program that provides alternatives to incarceration for defendants in drug cases.

The Director of the Office of National Drug Control Policy, Gil Kerlikowske, sat in the courtroom of Judge Lillian Sing, a presiding judge of the San Francisco Criminal Justice Center (CJC).

The center has been open for nearly four years and is assigned cases with defendants who may have underlying issues that lead to crime.

Cynthia Ming-mei Lee, a presiding judge of the San Francisco Superior Court, explained that the CJC blends the criminal justice system with offering “one-stop shopping” to defendants for “services they need.”

According to Lee, those services prevent recidivism and address issues such as homelessness, along with substance abuse.

“I was impressed with his interests and with his wanting to bring the federal perspectives to a local jurisdiction like San Francisco,” Sing said.

Judge Lee said Kerlikowski wanted to see how San Francisco’s model works to possibly see if other courts around the country could adopt the program.

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