Goal of nation’s first opioid court: Keeping users alive
BUFFALO, N.Y. — After three defendants fatally overdosed in a single week last year, it became clear that Buffalo’s ordinary drug treatment court was no match for the heroin and painkiller crisis.
Now the city is experimenting with the nation’s first opioid crisis intervention court, which can get users into treatment within hours of their arrest instead of days, requires them to check in with a judge every day for a month instead of once a week, and puts them on strict curfews. Administering justice takes a back seat to the overarching goal of simply keeping defendants alive.
“The idea behind it,” said court project director Jeffrey Smith, “is only about how many people are still breathing each day when we’re finished.”
Funded with a three-year $300,000 U.S. Justice Department grant, the program began May 1 with the intent of treating 200 people in a year and providing a model that other hero in wracked cities can replicate.
Two months in, organizers are optimistic. As of late last week, none of the 80 people who agreed to the program had overdosed, though about 10 warrants had been issued for missed appearances.
Buffalo-area health officials blamed 300 deaths on opioid overdoses in 2016, up from 127 two years earlier. That includes a young couple who did not make it to their second drug court appearance last spring. The woman’s father arrived instead to tell the judge his daughter and her boyfriend had died the night before.
“We have an epidemic on our hands. … We’ve got to start thinking outside the box here,” said Erie County District Attorney John Flynn. “And if that means coddling an individual who has a minor offense, who is not a career criminal, who’s got a serious drug problem, then I’m guilty of coddling.”
Acceptance into opioid crisis court means detox, inpatient or outpatient care, 8 p.m. curfews and at least 30 consecutive days of in-person meetings with the judge. A typical drug treatment court might require such appearances once a week or even once a month.
“This 30-day thing is like being beat up and being asked to get in the ring again, and you’re required to,” 36-yearold Ron Woods said after one of his daily face-to-face meetings with City Court Judge Craig Hannah, who presides over the program.
Woods was arrested on drug charges in mid-May and agreed to intervention with the dual hope of kicking the opioids that have killed two dozen friends and seeing felony charges against him reduced or dismissed. In addition to the Monday-through-Friday court dates, Woods attends daily outpatient counseling, submits to drug testing and works at his family paving business.