Strategies

Use specialized courts to offer adults who are charged with an offense and have substance use disorders an alternative to adjudication or incarceration

Provide information and increase motivation to change or prevent problematic alcohol consumption in a short session; also called alcohol screening & brief intervention

Use specialized courts to work with parents involved in the child welfare system who may lose custody of their children due to substance use; also called family treatment courts, family dependency treatment courts, or family drug courts

Provide free fentanyl test strips to detect the presence of fentanyl in different kinds of drugs and drug forms

Provide immunity from arrest, charges, or prosecution for drug possession or paraphernalia when individuals experiencing or witnessing drug overdose summon emergency services

Provide medications such as methadone to individuals diagnosed with opioid use disorder in outpatient, residential, and hospital settings, usually with counseling and behavioral therapies; often called MAT

Distribute Naloxone to trained community members and first responders to reverse opioid overdoses

Provide sterile injection equipment and often other treatment and referral services to people who inject drugs; also called needle or syringe exchange programs and needle syringe programs