Stepped-wedge randomized controlled trial of a novel opioid court to improve identification of need and linkage to medications for treatment to opioid use disorder treatment for court-involved adults

In response to the opioid crisis in New York State (NYS), the Unified Court System developed a new treatment court model —the opioid intervention court—designed around 10 Essential Elements of practice to address the flaws of existing drug courts in handling those with opioid addiction via broader inclusion criteria, rapid screening, and linkage to medications to treat opioid use disorder (MOUD). The new court is now being rolled out statewide yet, given the innovation of the opioid court, the exact barriers to implementation in different counties with a range of resources are largely unknown.

Source: Journal of Substance Abuse Treatment - January 7, 2021 Category: Addiction Authors: Katherine S. Elkington, Edward Nunes, Annie Schachar, Margaret Ryan, Alejandra Garcia, Kelly Van DeVelde, Dennis Reilly, Megan O ’Grady, Arthur R. Williams, Susan Tross, Patrick Wilson, Renee Cohall, Alwyn Cohall, Milton Wainberg Source Type: research