About Treatment Courts

Drug treatment courts approach and handle addiction as a complex disease.

Drug treatment courts provide a comprehensive, sustained continuum of therapeutic interventions, treatment, and other services to treat those suffering with a substance use disorder (SUD), in addition to reducing the rate of relapse, re-arrest, and incarceration. Treatment courts refer more people to treatment than any other intervention in America, and promote positive outcomes for both participants and the community.

• Michigan currently has 84 drug treatment courts:

  • 32 adult drug courts

  • 23 DWI courts

  • 15 juvenile drug courts

  • 11 family dependency courts

  • 3 tribal healing-to-wellness courts

• The most common drug of choice for participants is heroin/opiates.

• The majority of participants are placed into drug court on a new felony drug offense. Most participants have at least one prior conviction at the time of entry.

• In 2017, Michigan saw 2,914 participants discharged from a program, with 1,814 participants (62%) successfully completing.

• Drug/sobriety court graduates achieve an average of 369 consecutive days of sobriety from time of discharge.

• Each participant saves the state between $3,000 and $13,000.

• Participants report less criminal activity (40% vs. 53%) and fewer rearrests (52% vs. 62%) than comparable offenders.

• Participants report less drug use (56% vs. 76%) and also less test positivity (29% vs. 46%) than comparable offenders.