Tens of thousands of cases involving small amounts of illicit drugs go through the Cook County courts each year, only for 95 percent of these cases to be dismissed, according to an in-depth investigation by the Chicago Sun-Times and Better Government Association.

There is a way to avoid the excessive personal and social costs of arrests for low-level drug possession, wrote TASC President and CEO Joel K. Johnson and Executive Director for TASC's Center for Health and Justice (CHJ) Jac A. Charlier in an opinion-editorial published by the Sun-Times on December 9. Charlier also serves as the lead for the national Police, Treatment and Community Collaborative (PTACC).

As an alternative to arrest, wrote Johnson and Charlier, deflection to community-based treatment and services is a win-win-win for the law enforcement and courts, individuals who need help, and the larger community.

Excerpt:

Through this approach (also sometimes known as pre-arrest deflection), police and other first responders “deflect” people with substance use disorders from entering the justice system at all, and instead expedite handoffs to community-based substance use disorder treatment, housing, recovery, and other services. At a time when people are dying in record numbers from overdoses, deflection offers first responders a direct and effective way to help people access the treatment that will not only address their drug use, but interrupt the cycle of drug and related low-level offenses, rather than choking the justice system with a case that will soon be dismissed….About 1,000 of the nation’s 18,000 police departments, plus a number of fire departments and emergency management services agencies, are involved in some form of deflection initiative.

Read TASC's full op-ed.