Brooklyn DA announces pre-court drug addiction treatment program
With the opioid epidemic plaguing the country, a new program funded by the City Council and launched by the Brooklyn District Attorney’s Office seeks to keep people arrested for misdemeanor drug possession out of jail and get them into treatment, the district attorney announced Tuesday.
Brooklyn CLEAR (Collaborative Legal Engagement Assistance Response) gives people struggling with addiction who are arrested for criminal drug possession in the seventh degree, the ability to bypass the criminal justice system and go straight to treatment.
“Our justice system cannot be; it should not be just about punishing people. It should be about saving people’s lives,” said District Attorney Eric Gonzalez at MCU Park in Coney Island, a neighborhood with significant amounts of overdoses.