Letter to the Hon. John Culberson, House Subcommittee on Commerce, Justice, Science, and Related Agencies Chairman, and the Hon. José Serrano, Subcommittee Ranking Member - Effectively Address Opioid Crisis In Fiscal Year 2019 Spending Bill

Letter

Dear Chairman Culberson and Ranking Member Serrano,

As you begin deliberations for the Fiscal Year 2019 Commerce, Justice, and Science Appropriations bill, we request that you include robust funding for the creation of a Law Enforcement Assisted Diversion (LEAD) grant program. The program would be run by the Office of Justice Programs (OJP), and would be open to all jurisdictions across the country who would like to operate, or who are currently operating, a LEAD program.

As our country struggles with the opioid epidemic, policymakers are searching for solutions. Many have recognized that we cannot arrest our way out of this problem, so there is a need for innovative, evidence-based solutions that connect individuals struggling with addiction to vital treatment and recovery services. LEAD is an essential program that operates in this manner.

LEAD is a pre-booking diversion program that allows law enforcement officers to exercise their discretionary authority to redirect low-level offenders engaged in drugs or prostitution activity to community-based services instead of jail and prosecution. LEAD began as the result of an unusual collaboration among diverse stakeholders, ranging from law enforcement to the ACLU and community members. Program participants begin working immediately with case managers upon enrollment to access services. LEAD is a public safety program that focuses on self-harm reduction, and has demonstrated the potential to reduce recidivism rates for low-level offenders and preserve expensive criminal justice system resources.

Since the program's inception, programs modeled on it have appeared across the country. Currently, 31 states are either exploring, developing, launching, or operating a LEAD program. They include Arizona, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Florida, Georgia, Hawaii, Illinois, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maine, Massachusetts, Maryland, Minnesota, Michigan, Montana, North Carolina, New Jersey, New Mexico, Nevada, New York, Ohio, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Texas, Virginia, Washington, West Virginia, and Wisconsin.

LEAD has undergone a rigorous, two-year evaluation by the University of Washington. The evaluation concluded that LEAD participants were up to 60 percent less likely to reoffend, and demonstrated improvements in the health and well-being of participants. This result is particularly encouraging in light of the high re-arrest rate for this population under the traditional criminal justice model. LEAD data also demonstrated improvements in the health and well-being of participants struggling at the intersection of poverty, drug misuse, and mental health problems.

The LEAD program's success to reduce incarceration of low-level drug offenders will ultimately generate fiscal savings, although the up-front costs may prohibit states and localities from starting their own programs. Therefore, it is critical that the federal government lend a helping hand. Accordingly, we request that you provide robust funding to create an OJP grant program that would serve communities around the country. We believe this program saves lives, and money, and would benefit our country as we struggle to tackle the opioid epidemic.