LAFAYETTE, La. (KLFY) - A Lafayette drug court provided a new start for graduates who learned important tools in their quest to become drug free.

News 10 was at at the district courthouse where the fifteenth JDC drug court program held their graduation today to explain how the program helps people overcome addiction.

Judge Valerie Garrett, said, "For every family that's behind a drug court participant we're healing somebody. And then we're changing the trajectory of their future. So if we can keep doing that then they can be the front end soldiers to help us battle the opioid crisis."

Garrett said the program serves a big purpose in helping people struggling to overcome addition.

"The purpose of drug court initially was started to combat the addiction that we see that so many people are infested with," Garrett said. "And not only give them a second chance at life but also to combat the crime that we have in our community."

Garrett said bringing the participants together as one created change amongst them.

"If I take the community where they know where to get the drugs and they live among each other and I rebuild that community in a positive way, then we change and make it upside down," Garrett said.

By completing the program, these graduates can look forward to new beginnings. Eighteen people graduated from the program today.