{"id":36449,"date":"2023-01-21T05:35:36","date_gmt":"2023-01-21T05:35:36","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/cjstudents.com\/?p=36449"},"modified":"2023-01-21T05:35:36","modified_gmt":"2023-01-21T05:35:36","slug":"diversion-programs-tackle-substance-abuse-without-punishment","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/cjstudents.com\/index.php\/2023\/01\/21\/diversion-programs-tackle-substance-abuse-without-punishment\/","title":{"rendered":"Diversion programs tackle substance abuse without punishment"},"content":{"rendered":"<p> [ad_1]<\/p>\n<div>\n<p>(<a target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" href=\"https:\/\/www.newsnationnow.com\/\">NewsNation<\/a>) \u2014\u00a0America\u2019s approach to curbing the drug epidemic has been two-pronged: the threat of arrest and criminal conviction or mandated treatment and testing through drug courts. Chicago\u2019s Narcotics Arrest Diversion Program (NADP) is trying a third approach. <\/p>\n<p>NADP is one of several diversion programs around the United States. First piloted in 2018 on the city\u2019s West Side, it\u2019s now a citywide program that doesn\u2019t rely on the threat of criminal sanctions at all. <\/p>\n<p>Instead, when Chicagoans are arrested for low-level and nonviolent drug offenses, they\u2019re offered the chance at diversion. There\u2019s no formal criminal charge levied; instead, they\u2019re connected to access to drug treatment. <\/p>\n<p>\u201cThen the treatment provider is the one who\u2019s going to talk to you and do an intake process,\u201d said Ashna Arora, research director at the University of Chicago Crime Lab. \u201cWhat that means is, they\u2019re going to talk to you, they\u2019re going to decide what is best for you. Do you need individual counseling? Do you need group counseling? Do you need medication-assisted treatment?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>People who are referred to treatment are then free to choose whether to stick with it. There\u2019s no punishment for dropping out of treatment. <\/p>\n<p>Arora <a target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" href=\"https:\/\/drive.google.com\/file\/d\/1M7KhKS6AmtD3jqubhsBpi_lNZY4LFAi0\/view\" data-type=\"URL\" data-id=\"https:\/\/drive.google.com\/file\/d\/1M7KhKS6AmtD3jqubhsBpi_lNZY4LFAi0\/view\">studied the program\u2019s use<\/a> in its first two years and found that despite the lack of coercion, many people chose to get help.<\/p>\n<aside class=\"ad-unit ad-unit--mr1_ab\">\n<\/aside>\n<div class=\"nlp-ignore-block article-content rich-text\">\n<aside class=\"promo-link\">\n\t<a target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.newsnationnow.com\/health\/report-fentanyl-deaths-of-children-under-14-surging\/?ipid=promo-link-block1\" class=\"promo-link__link\" rel=\"noopener\"><br \/>\n\t\tReport: Fentanyl deaths of children under 14 surging\t<\/a><br \/>\n<\/aside>\n<\/div>\n<p>Almost 80% of people contacted by law enforcement chose to opt into treatment and more than half stayed in treatment for at least 30 days. By 90 days, a little under a third were still in treatment. <\/p>\n<p>It\u2019s not clear how successful treatment is for these participants, but Arora and her researchers estimated that the retention rate is similar to substance use treatment programs more broadly.<\/p>\n<p>Arora also found that NADP participants were about 72% less likely to be rearrested in the future; that includes being less likely to be rearrested for both drug and violence charges \u2014 suggesting that the program may be helping improve public safety.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cSo we really do think the program is working, in that it is reducing further involvement with the criminal justice system,\u201d she said. <\/p>\n<aside class=\"ad-unit ad-unit--mr2_ab\">\n<\/aside>\n<p>The main treatment provider that\u2019s worked with the City of Chicago on this program is called Thresholds, which has long worked with people with mental health and substance abuse problems. Anne Brekke, who serves as its program director, described how its staff approach NADP participants.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe really try to be as compassionate as possible and ask them, have you been in treatment before? What worked for you? What did you like? What didn\u2019t you like?\u201d she said. <\/p>\n<p>Much of what Thresholds does is provide wraparound services, like finding participants an apartment or getting them a state ID or driver\u2019s license.<\/p>\n<div class=\"nlp-ignore-block article-content rich-text\">\n<aside class=\"promo-link\">\n\t<a target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.newsnationnow.com\/health\/drug-overdose-deaths-hit-record-during-pandemic-why\/?ipid=promo-link-block2\" class=\"promo-link__link\" rel=\"noopener\"><br \/>\n\t\tDrug overdose deaths hit record during pandemic. Why?\t<\/a><br \/>\n<\/aside>\n<\/div>\n<p>\u201cMost of the people coming from NADP might be in a contemplation or precontemplation stage of change. We don\u2019t judge that, and we say, OK, what are some things you need?\u201d Brekke said. <\/p>\n<aside class=\"ad-unit ad-unit--mr3_ab\">\n<\/aside>\n<p>While Arora\u2019s research has found that the program has been associated with a reduction in rearrests, there are still some outstanding questions on how effective it is in combatting substance abuse overall. <\/p>\n<p>One of Chicago\u2019s reasons for adopting NADP was to combat the opioid crisis. <\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe don\u2019t actually understand if drug arrest diversion is actually able to reduce the risk of overdose. Obviously the hope is that the treatment is like Step One of moving that very important outcome, but we don\u2019t actually know if that\u2019s true,\u201d she said, adding that they are trying to study that right now.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<p>[ad_2]<br \/>\n<br \/><a href=\"https:\/\/news.google.com\/__i\/rss\/rd\/articles\/CBMiXWh0dHBzOi8vd3d3Lm5ld3NuYXRpb25ub3cuY29tL2hlYWx0aC9kaXZlcnNpb24tcHJvZ3JhbXMtdGFja2xlLWRydWctYWJ1c2Utd2l0aG91dC1wdW5pc2htZW50L9IBYWh0dHBzOi8vd3d3Lm5ld3NuYXRpb25ub3cuY29tL2hlYWx0aC9kaXZlcnNpb24tcHJvZ3JhbXMtdGFja2xlLWRydWctYWJ1c2Utd2l0aG91dC1wdW5pc2htZW50L2FtcC8?oc=5\">Source link <\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>[ad_1] (NewsNation) \u2014\u00a0America\u2019s approach to curbing the drug epidemic has been two-pronged: the threat of&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":36450,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[25],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-36449","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-research"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/cjstudents.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/36449","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/cjstudents.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/cjstudents.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cjstudents.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cjstudents.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=36449"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/cjstudents.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/36449\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":36451,"href":"https:\/\/cjstudents.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/36449\/revisions\/36451"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cjstudents.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/36450"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/cjstudents.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=36449"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cjstudents.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=36449"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cjstudents.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=36449"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}