Thursdays are state District Judge Michael Vigil’s favorite day on the job.

That’s because Thursdays are when he presides over drug court, an intense, statewide program that allows offenders with one foot in the state penitentiary another chance to conquer their addictions and get control of their lives.

“Unlike my day job ... I get to be a cheerleader,” Vigil said Thursday. “A lot of (drug-court participants) have never had a judge tell them they’re doing well. It’s not really what we do.”

Vigil’s praise of the drug-court program was echoed Thursday by Gov. Bill Richardson, New Mexico Supreme Court Chief Justice Richard Bosson and other state officials, who gathered at the Steve Herrera Judicial Complex to bring attention to the program and honor its most recent graduates.

Four people graduated Thursday.

“For the first time in my life, I feel on top of the world,” said Javier Escobedo, one of those graduates. “It took a lot of dedication and hard work to get through.”

The first drug court was established in New Mexico in 1994. Now, there are 28 drug courts throughout the state.

Vigil said drug courts are not for first-time offenders. “We try to send people who are one step away from the penitentiary,” he said. “It’s for people who have been through the system and failed in everything else. It’s not an easy group of people.”

Under the program, Vigil recommends a candidate to the drug-court staff, which determines if that person meets the program criteria, the judge said. Then a panel that includes Vigil, Santa Fe Police Chief Beverly Lennen, a representative from the district attorney’s office and treatment providers reviews the recommendations and makes the final choices, he said.

The program is “intense,” Vigil said, and includes Alcoholics Anonymous meetings, group therapy, morality classes and daily drug and alcohol testing. The entire program can last anywhere from nine to 18 months and has only 30 spots, though Vigil said there is a waiting list and he could easily fill 60 spots if he had them.

Before he sits down with program participants each week, Vigil learns about each person’s week from drugcourt staffers, he said. Then he meets with each one separately and is able to talk about whatever is going on in the person’s life.

Vigil said the drug-court staff has told him that program participants who relapse are often most worried about disappointing him.

Richardson said the recidivism rate for drug court is 15 percent, compared to between 40 and 60 percent nationwide for those who don’t participate in a similar program. Richardson asked the Legislature for $2 million for the state’s drug courts during the last session, but received $850,000.

“It’s important that a major goal is to get full funding for the drug courts,” Richardson said.

Vigil said it costs between 3,500 and $4,000 to send one person through the drugcourt program, compared to between $27,000 and $30,000

incarcerate one person for year.

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