ST. LOUIS - (KMOX) April marks 25 years since St. Louis' 22nd Circuit Court started the drug treatment program. In that time, 2,200 people have successfully completed the program. One of those people, Amy Ford.
Amy's harrowing story started with being sexually abused at 8 years old, that led to sex trafficking for 26 years, prostitution and drug addiction for 23 years.
Amy entered drug court in 2015, though she wasn't ready to get clean. Amy told KMOX News, "I had this mindset that nobody could help me because I had been doing, you know, these things for so long, I didn't know that there was another way."
Amy says her probation officer saw her walking down the South City street one day, after being released from jail, she had missed drug court. " I just never reported back, and I did that a couple of times, I saw my p-o one morning when I was out working the streets and she's like you know, if you would come to drug court I wouldn't have to look for you. I remember that day like it was yesterday, because at the time, I was like this lady's trying to get me killed, and now I look at it and I'm like, she cared."
In July of 2018, Amy graduated from the Circuit Court Treatment program and is now a counselor for Child and Family Empowerment Center, which is the access site for the eastern region for a major funding source for sober living.
Amy Ford is now helping other women get out of the life she survived for 26 years.