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Of their recent Op-Ed, Cassie Franklin and Jon Nehring, mayors of Everett and Marysville respectively, argued for combining jail and remedy to deal with the present drug disaster. It is a key step within the path of sound coverage. Nevertheless, a essential piece of a complete strategy was lacking — enlargement of remedy courts.
It’s not jail adopted by remedy that reveals promise of curbing drug abuse and the associated prison conduct however a particular kind of remedy inside the prison justice system. As an professional on mental health courts, I argue for increasing remedy courts, particularly co-occurring courts which might be designed to deal with each substance abuse and psychological sickness. Provided that drug use and psychological well being points typically happen collectively, it’s best to match the wants of the people to a particular authorized system intervention. Furthermore, the longer persons are hooked on medication and disconnected from remedy the extra probably psychological well being points will develop. For some people dealing with drug expenses and habit points, diversion packages might be profitable. This could be the popular avenue, however for almost all, there’s a want for extra supervision and assist. That is the place remedy courts can and may step in.
Therapy courts depend on a holistic strategy to attach people (often called purchasers) with remedy, resolve the prison cost(s), and deter future prison conduct. They’re much less adversarial and extra collaborative. A staff of pros manages the courtroom program, representing a number of areas of experience akin to regulation, social work and well being care. They deal with the underlying issues driving a shopper’s prison conduct. Members of the staff work with purchasers to handle substance use and psychological well being remedy, safe steady housing and advantages, and supply ongoing assist. Common check-ins with staff members assist purchasers progress; additionally they symbolize alternatives for extra interventions. In sum, there’s a mixture of construction, accountability and assist.
The time to deal with that is now. The passage of new state drug laws that improve the penalties for drug crime makes this the optimum time to think about the function of remedy courts. The scope of the fentanyl disaster is different and the deadly penalties extensively identified. As of July 25, 586 folks have died in fentanyl-related overdoses countywide.
Increasing remedy courts shouldn’t be an try and penalize habit however to align a remedy focus with the present drug legal guidelines. The metaphor of “carrot and stick” is beneficial right here in shaping our response to drug-related crimes. We should develop the “carrot” — investing in remedy packages that work. On the similar time, we want the “stick” — accountability and construction. Prior to now, insurance policies have relied too closely on ineffective punishments. The excellent news is that now we have a mannequin that may work.
We will do extra to deal with the present fentanyl disaster whereas avoiding the errors of the previous. With out an funding within the therapeutic components of the prison authorized system, we appear to be inclined towards certainly one of two extremes — permissiveness or punitiveness. Neither has proved efficient. There’s a third method in remedy courtroom enlargement.
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