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Date: April 29, 2024 Mon
Time: 10:40 pm
Time: 10:40 pm
Results for court outreach unit: referral and treatment servic
1 results foundAuthor: DiFiore, Hon. Janet Title: New York State's Opioid Intervention Court Summary: A National Crisis On July 31, 2017, the President’s Commission on Combating Drug Addiction and the Opioid Crisis issued a preliminary report describing the severity of the opioidaddiction crisis gripping communities across America. - Approximately 142 Americans are dying every day from opioid abuse, a death toll equal to September 11th every three weeks. - Drug overdoses now kill more people every year than gun homicides and car crashes combined. - The number of drug overdoses in the United States has quadrupled since 1999. - In 2015 nearly two-thirds of all drug overdoses were caused by opioids, especially heroin, fentanyl, Percocet, and OxyContin. A new report from the Police Executive Research Forum, an independent research organization that focuses on “critical issues in policing,” puts those numbers in context, noting that more Americans died from drug overdoses in 2016 (64,070) than lost their lives during the entirety of the Vietnam War (58,200). New York’s Response: A First-of-Its-Kind Court The Opioid Intervention Court - the first of its kind in the nation - began operating on May 1, 2017, in Buffalo, Erie County, an area hard hit by opioid addiction and overdose deaths. The new court is unique in that it relies on immediate intervention and treatment of individuals at high risk of opioid overdose. Within 24 hours of arrest, defendants are linked to medication-assisted treatment, followed by up to 90 days of intensive daily court monitoring. In the Opioid Intervention Court, treatment is prioritized and criminal prosecution held in abeyance - thus flipping the usual legal process in order to save lives. Over the last several years, local judges, law enforcement, and public-health officials grew very concerned about the sharp increase in opioid-overdose deaths in Buffalo and Erie County. According to statistics provided by the Erie County Department of Health, opioid-overdose deaths jumped from 127 in 2014 to 296 in 2016. In a single week in 2016, three defendants in the Buffalo City Court died from opioid overdoses, driving home the need for a different approach when dealing with defendants suffering from opioid-use disorders. Judges and court staff in Buffalo and Erie County took the lead in reaching out to local stakeholders to develop a new court model to address the unique needs of opioid-addicted defendants. The Buffalo City Court was well positioned to take the lead on this issue because of its sophisticated and successful judicial-diversion and drug-treatment programs, and the extensive community partnerships developed under the COURTS program (Court Outreach Unit: Referral and Treatment Services). Started in 1994 by City Court Chief Judge Thomas Amodeo, COURTS integrates social-service professionals into the arrest-and-arraignment process so that judges can make informed decisions, linking defendants to the best available treatment options based on expert screening and referral recommendations. With the support of the court system’s grants and contracts office, the Buffalo proposal was submitted to the Department of Justice’s Bureau of Justice Assistance, which awarded a $300,000 grant for piloting a specialized opioid court for defendants at high risk of opioid overdose. The grant supports immediate, targeted, and intensive drugtreatment services provided by physicians and case workers from the University of Buffalo’s Family Medicine Addiction Clinic. A key to the program is the participation of physicians who administer medication-assistance treatment to severely addicted persons, which involves using certain medications, such as methadone, naltrexone, and buprenorphine, known to be effective in blocking the euphoric highs of opioids, stabilizing brain chemistry, and relieving psychological cravings. Experienced caseworkers provide behavioral therapy and counseling, enforce curfews, perform wellness checks, and transport patients to court. Details: New York: 2017. 5p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed January 12, 2019 at: https://www.ncsc.org/~/media/Microsites/Files/Trends%202018/New-York-Opioid-Intervention-Courts.pdf Year: 2017 Country: United States URL: https://www.ncsc.org/~/media/Microsites/Files/Trends%202018/New-York-Opioid-Intervention-Courts.pdf Shelf Number: 154090 Keywords: Buffalo City Court Court Outreach Unit: Referral and Treatment ServicDrug Court Drug Overdose Drug Treatment Fentanyl Heroin New York Opioid Addiction Opioid Court Opioid Epidemic Opioid Intervention Court Oxycontin Percocet Public Health |