Catching Up With COSSAP (April 2022)

Deflection—the proposition that the best way to support individuals with substance use and co-occurring disorders is to deflect them away from traditional law enforcement involvement and toward treatment and recovery services— received a game-changing endorsement from the White House in March when its Office of National Drug Control Policy (ONDCP) released a state model law that encourages the adoption of deflection programs across the country.

Leveraging the force-multiplying reach of ONDCP’s Model Acts Program, the expertise of the Legislative Analysis and Public Policy Association (LAPPA) and the Police, Treatment, and Community Collaborative (PTACC) and input from four Comprehensive Opioid, Stimulant, and Substance Abuse Program (COSSAP)-supported deflection sites, the model law provides states with an actionable template to institutionalize deflection in their substance use strategies—and thereby possibly pave their best path to success....    

While 25 states and the District of Columbia have laws on their books that include individual provisions about deflection, LAPPA had only one statewide law comprehensively dedicated to deflection to draw on— Illinois’, which was passed in 2018....[Jac Charlier] executive director of Treatment Alternatives for Safe Communities’ (TASC) Center for Health and Justice...helped shape that law and guided LAPPA as it adapted the Illinois statute to a model law that could be used nationwide.

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"Catching Up With COSSAP" is an online newsletter distributed by the Comprehensive Opioid, Stimulant, and Substance Abuse Program (COSSAP). 

CHJ is a COSSAP training and technical assistance partner and helps grantees implement evidence-based, systemic solutions at the front end of the justice system to respond to the substance use that often contributes to contact with the justice system.