I worked for one for more than six years and it showed me what a huge mistake it was letting courts control the drug treatment system in a way that forces it on people who don't need it, to the exclusion of those who do. https://twitter.com/JessicaHuseman/status/1319462298621267970

And really that's just the start! It also warps the entire practice of therapy in a way that stretches ethical boundaries, spends massive resources on people who pose no violence risk, actively discludes harm reduction which can't operate in a space where any use is criminalized.

What didn't they talk about tonight? Overdoses. Drug courts don't stop them (they may in fact increase them by compelling detox), inpatient beds don't stop them, interdiction doesn't stop them. Beyond naloxone we in the US still have nothing for overdoses. People are still dying!

The problem with the bullshit "opioid epidemic" narrative: It's an overdose epidemic! Throwing the same shit we've thrown at opioid use for 30 years doesn't work for overdoses! It just let's people skirt the issue by by saying "Let's do more of the status quo" like that works!

Harm reduction people get heated about drug courts because they have the answer to the overdose problem but can't practice it both because of laws and policies but also because halo wearing but regressive approaches like drug courts suck up all the oxygen (and money).

There was hope that under Sanders there would be a real centering of harm reduction, finally. Four more years of just drug courts while scores of people continue dying -- which is the best case scenario! -- is a tough bite to swallow.