“Nearly two decades of research, represented by hundreds of studies, finds that substance abuse treatment, especially when it incorporates evidence-based practice, results in clinically significant reductions in alcohol and drug and alcohol use and crime and improves health and social function for many clients.”

Partnerships between drug and alcohol treatment professionals and law enforcement agencies – especially those that make use of the most advanced scientific knowledge about the best ways to treat people in the criminal justice system and facilitate their reentry into society – have been proven successful in reducing both drug and alcohol use and crime. 

In collaboration with The National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA), the Legal Action Center has created this website to help policymakers, law enforcement and treatment professionals, and other interested organizations and individuals all over together to learn from each other, and to work together, to design and implement the most effective public policies to reduce drug and alcohol use and crime and promote the successful reintegration into their communities of addicted people in the criminal justice system.  It contains an Introduction, Conclusion, and two sets of tools:

• Nine Key Lessons Learned:   What Science Teaches Us About Addiction, Treatment, Recovery and the Criminal Justice System
• Nine Public Policy Solutions:   What Science Teaches Us About the Most Effective Ways to Address Addiction In the Criminal Justice System

Each Public Policy Solution has a brief summary and then more detail, allowing you to decide how much in-depth information you would like for each.

NEXT: Introduction