A drug treatment program that supporters say has saved the state millions and helped turn around the lives of thousands of addicted North Carolinians is slated to be eliminated because of budget cuts.

Faced with one of the worst budget gaps in state history, legislators have proposed slashing the $2 million in funding for N.C. Drug Treatment Courts, a yearlong program that keeps nonviolent drug offenders out of prison and in treatment.

The consequences - financially and socially - could be dire, according to court administrators and judges.

"It's a no-brainer," Mecklenburg County Trial Administrator Todd Nuccio said. "You can pay $25,000 to $30,000 a year to house someone in a jail cell, or pay $2,500 to $3,000 to run them through this program... Unfortunately to folks who do not know much about these programs, it's just a number on a piece of paper. So it's shortsightedness."

Jessica Scott of East Charlotte swallowed a dozen pain pills before walking into the Mecklenburg courthouse in December, pleading for help.

Social workers had taken her 1-year-old and 2-year-old when police found them playing unsupervised. She was passed out after drinking a half-gallon of whiskey.

The 31-year-old, who already had been separated from her three older children, wanted her two youngest back. But she faced a two-year sentence because of her long record of drug- and alcohol- related offenses.

Since being accepted into drug court program, she says she's been clean for five months. It's the first time she's been clean since her first pregnancy. If she continues to progress, she expects to regain custody of her children by the time she graduates in January.

"Without drug court, I really believe I'd be sitting in prison and my kids would be motherless," she said.

The state Senate's $19.6 billion budget received preliminary approval Wednesday. Senators will vote on the budget today before sending it to the House. If approved, it could be on the governor's desk as early as Saturday.

The court system currently receives about 2.5 percent of the overall state budget. The elimination of the 16-year-old drug program is part of $39.4 million in planned cuts to the N.C. courts.

Republican leaders said they were forced to make tough decisions to plug a $2.5 billion deficit they say they inherited from Democrats after taking control of the General Assembly in January.

"We can't print money in the state of North Carolina," said Sen. Bob Rucho, a Mecklenburg Republican, who said he would work to restore some of the drug court's funding. "This is taking the necessary steps. Unfortunately, it's not very simple or easy."

The justice and public safety subcommittee looked closely at cutting programs that were not offered in every county, such as the drug courts, said Sen. Peter Brunstetter, co-chair of the appropriations committee.

He said the program has been effective in the communities where it operates, but said legislators had to balance the budget.

"There are just no good choices, but there is a budget deficit," he said. "If you don't have the money, you just don't have the money."

In the long run, supporters say, offering drug treatment is more cost-effective than allowing addicts to continue to cycle through the court system.

"This one is baffling," said Sen. Daniel Clodfelter, a Mecklenburg Democrat. "This is another example of the meat-ax approach to the budget. No one is saying this doesn't work... It's 'we got to cut the budget' so let's cut this."

Clodfelter said the N.C. judicial system is already one of the most underfunded court systems in the country. North Carolina ranks near the bottom in the percentage of money spent on courts, according to a 2007 study by the Bureau of Justice Statistics, which Clodfelter cited.

The drug court served 1,402 offenders last year. Court officials said it would have cost nearly $5 million to process those offenders through the traditional court system.

Nuccio, the trial administrator, said the courts are being asked to increase a variety of court fees, which will raise approximately $60 million more revenue for the state. He said that's more than enough to offset the $2 million drug program.

In an April 26 letter, Mecklenburg District Court Judge Theo Nixon wrote to Rep. Leo Daughtry of the House Appropriations Committee to oppose cutting the court. Twenty-five drug-free babies were born to mothers participating in the program last year, he said. The courts are also six times more likely to keep drug offenders in treatment long enough for them to be substance-free, he added.

"You put someone in prison a year, it costs as much as it would to send someone to Davidson to college," said Judge Phil Howerton, the main architect of the state's first drug court in Mecklenburg County. "You tell me how the N.C. legislature could justify cutting drug court if we're saving many lives, keeping people out of jail, saving them from breaking into houses to support their drug habit."

For Scott, the drug court made her accountable. She said she knew she had to get help when police arrived with social workers to take her children before she entered the program.

"It was horrible," she said. "They were crying. They wouldn't take the handcuffs off for a moment so I could hug them. They just sat them on my lap with the handcuffs."

Scott says it might have been the best thing for her since it helped her get into the drug court program. She said she's now planning on getting her high school degree and will study counseling to help teenagers dealing with addiction and trauma.

"It was like a fire under my butt," she said. "I couldn't get it together again. It's terrible that it happened. But now my future is brighter."