Courts look at opioid issue

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For The Tribune

For many people struggling with addiction, their first time getting treatment may only be after getting an order from a judge.

Rehabilitation, counseling and other programs focused on recovery often are a part of sentencing for people who have committed crimes and are addicted to opioids.

And that is exactly why the courts need to be more involved in the plan to address the opioid crisis impacting the nation, according to a national task force that is meeting this week in Indianapolis.

The National Judicial Opioid Task Force, which is made up of state court leaders from across the country, is meeting this week to discuss how the court system can be involved in helping people and communities impacted by the opioid crisis.

The issue is impacting the entire nation with 116 people dying every day from opioid-related drug overdoses, according to 2016 statistics from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.

Indiana is just as affected, if not more impacted, than other states, and judges often are on the frontlines of the crisis, said Indiana Chief Justice Loretta Rush, who is a part of the task force meeting this week.

Rush, who has been a judge for about 20 years, said she has never seen a crisis like what the nation is facing now with opioids.

“I’ve never seen an issue that has come up as a judge that is more important than this one,” she said. “As a judge, seeing this kind of trauma pour into your court, it’s almost like you can’t not say something because it’s horrific what you’re seeing.”

Courts are the No. 1 referral method for people getting treatment for addiction and hadn’t previously been included in discussions about how to address the opioid crisis, she said.

Now, the national task force is meeting to discuss multiple issues and topics with the focus on looking at the best practices, finding resources and bringing them back to the states and communities that need them, she said.

Exactly what their recommendations will be has not yet been decided, but some of the options include jail-based addiction recovery programs and additional programs to help offenders once they have been released. But jails across Indiana are overcrowded and don’t have extra funding, so helping counties connect with the resources, space and providers to do that work will be crucial, Rush said.

Another idea is to work with first responders, who are called to help when someone is overdosing, to be sure the person they are saving then has immediate access to resources to help them recover from addiction, Rush said.

No one solution will address the issues in all communities and states, but everyone needs to be connected with the resources to make programs successful, she said.

“We want to give them the tools for local solutions,” she said.

The group has been meeting regularly since being formed last year, but plenty of work remains, she said.

All courts are being impacted by the opioid crisis, not just drug courts, said Deborah Taylor Tate, director of the Administrative Office of the Tennessee Courts. And the courts also have a chance at making a difference by helping people get needed resources, she said.

“Judges are the superheroes in this war on drugs, and it’s really true,” she said. “The judges see everyone, all of the citizens who come to the various courts.”

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Here is a look at some national statistics about the impacts of opioids in 2016:

116 people died every day from opioid-related overdoses

11.5 million people misused prescription opioids

948,000 people used heroin

15,469 deaths attributed to heroin overdoses

17,087 deaths attributed to prescription opioid overdoses

19,413 deaths attributed to synthetic opioid overdoses

Source: U.S. Department of Health and Human Services

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