Drugs & Substance Abuse in Corrections - Policy
Principles of an Effective Criminal Justice Response to the Challenges and Needs of Drug-Involved Individuals
“The Principles report outlines ten operating guidelines that define highly-successful system-level responses to address the needs of drug involved individuals. And the needs are staggering - with estimates as high as 60 percent of arrestees in jail with positive drug tests and fragmented service networks in the highest need communities, the responsibility to treat and rehabilitate drug-involved defendants and offenders has fallen squarely on criminal justice systems. While some systems have had notable successes in meeting these challenges, others continue...
Healthcare Not Handcuffs: Putting the Affordable Care Act to Work for Criminal Justice and Drug Policy Reform
“The Affordable Care Act (ACA) sets the stage for a new health-oriented policy framework to address substance use and mental health disorders. By dramatically expanding and funding healthcare coverage to millions of currently uninsured people, the ACA represents a remarkable opportunity for criminal justice and drug policy reform advocates to advance efforts for policies promoting safe and healthy communities, without excessive reliance on the criminal justice solutions that have become so prevalent under the War on Drugs.
This paper is...
End of An Era? The Impact of Drug Law Reform in New York City
This report empirically shows the benefits that can happen if a state reforms its excessively punitive drug control laws. "In 2009, the latest in a series of reforms essentially dismantled New York State’s Rockefeller Drug Laws, eliminating mandatory minimum sentences for people convicted of a range of felony drug charges and increasing eligibility for diversion to treatment ... [The] drug law reform, as it functioned in the city soon after the laws were passed, led to a 35 percent rise...
Case Asks If It's Constitutional To Require Someone On Probation To Remain Drug-Free (2017)
Massachusetts' highest court soon takes up a controversial case that raises provocative questions about the criminal justice system and addiction.
The case asks if it's constitutional to require someone on probation to remain drug-free. Some say it could be one of the most important cases before the state Supreme Judicial Court in the past decade.
The case involves 29-year-old Julie Eldred, who was put on probation for a year in 2016 for a larceny charge. Her probation conditions stipulated that she remain drug-free and submit to random drug tests. One of those tests - taken 12 days after Eldred was...
Why one Ohio lawmaker wants first responders to ignore opioid overdose calls (2017)
The opioid crisis sweeping the country is putting a growing financial and emotional strain on many communities. More than 4,000 people died from unintentional drug overdoses last year in Ohio alone. Many coroners in the state say the death toll will be higher this year.
CBS News correspondent Tony Dokoupil visited Middletown, Ohio, where the sheriff is refusing to allow deputies to carry the opioid antidote naloxone because of safety concerns.
According to one estimate, opioids could kill nearly half a million people over the next decade. That's like losing the entire population of Atlanta.
Middletown has already seen more...