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Each issue of News Bites will highlight unique news articles from around the United States in the areas of public health and safety, substance use disorders, and the criminal justice system. This newsletter will feature stories that you may have missed but are important to the field....

Welcome to the inaugural issue of the Case Law Monitor, the bimonthly case law newsletter of the Legislative Analysis and Public Policy Association (LAPPA). Each issue will highlight unique cases from around the United States in the areas of public health and safety, substance use disorders, and the criminal justice system. ...

Opened on Oct. 1, 2018, the mission of the Austin (Travis County, Texas) Sobering Center is “to enhance public health and public safety by providing an alternative to the emergency room and jail for publicly intoxicated individuals to sober up and, when appropriate, provide a safe environment to initiative recovery.” Only Austin’s first responders (e.g., law enforcement officers and emergency medical technicians) are permitted to bring people under the influence of any substance except PCP to withdraw at the Center....

The NJOTF was created by Resolutions of the Conference of Chief Justices (CCJ) and Conference of State Court Administrators (COSCA) during their annual meeting in 2017. The Conferences recognized the need to respond to the mounting stress on criminal and family court dockets impacting state court systems across the country. Through collaboration with multiple sources inside and outside government, including experts on treatment, prevention and data, the members of the Task Force approved a comprehensive set of policy and best practice recommendations. This report is centered around these findings and recommendations. ...

Each issue of News Bites will highlight unique news articles from around the United States in the areas of public health and safety, substance use disorders, and the criminal justice system. This newsletter will feature stories that you may have missed but are important to the field....

This statement describes (1) what is known about the prevalence of recovery homes across the United States; and (2) investigations and actions selected states have undertaken to oversee such homes. It is largely based on GAO’s March 2018 report (GAO-18-315). For that report, GAO reviewed national and state data, among other things, and interviewed officials from the Department of Health and Human Services, national associations, and five states—Florida, Massachusetts, Ohio, Texas, and Utah. GAO selected these states based on their rates of opioid overdose deaths, their rates of dependence or abuse of alcohol and other drugs, and other criteria....

Tennessee Recovery Oriented Compliance Strategy (TN ROCS) was founded in 2013 by Circuit Court Judge O. Duane Slone to work with drug offenders with opioid use disorders (OUDs) who did not qualify for his drug recovery court. The program relies on the practices and principles of drug court, requires fewer resources, and is based on three components: (1) obtaining an accurate screening and assessment and providing a referral to the proper level of treatment for an appropriate period of time; (2) frequent accountability through appropriate levels of supervision; and (3) the knowledge that the judge has power over the participant’s freedom....