Medication in Opioid Courts: Reducing Overdose Through Triage in Court Settings

To manage the opioid crisis in the United States, the justice system has adapted to develop approaches that address opioid use disorder (OUD) while reducing incarceration. One important effort is opioid intervention courts, specialized programs that draw on the experience of other evidence-based treatment courts to offer immediate connections to medication for opioid use disorder (MOUD) and intensive supervision and support. Opioid courts have succeeded in saving lives, but they also face barriers to enrolling participants and delivering MOUD to all who would benefit from it. This report is motivated by a desire to improve access to MOUD, specialty care, community support services, and peer advocates through opioid courts and other drug treatment courts. It shares lessons from opioid court practitioners and their partners about what quality MOUD care, treatment, and use look like; how to promptly identify potential court participants and provide access to MOUD and specialty care; and how to identify and engage MOUD providers. It also includes descriptions of recent innovations developed during the COVID-19 pandemic that could make it easier to connect patients to MOUD in the future.The goal of this presentation is to identify ways for opioid courts and other drug treatment courts to improve access to MOUD. It shares lessons from opioid court practitioners and their partners about what quality MOUD care, treatment, and use look like; how to promptly identify potential court participants and provide access to MOUD and specialty care; and how to identify and engage MOUD providers. The goal is to assist an audience of practitioners in treatment courts and all criminal courts where people at risk of overdose have cases, as well as partners and potential partners of treatment courts (including treatment providers, health care practitioners, law enforcement officials, probation departments, and social service agencies), as they seek to improve access to MOUD and specialty treatment services as part of the criminal legal process.