By Maia Szalavitz, Illustration: Julianna Brion, The New York Times, April 30, 2022
Jason Norelli, a San Francisco native, spent several years homeless in and around the city’s Tenderloin district, addicted to methamphetamine. In 2001, he was legally mandated to attend rehab and has been in recovery ever since. Today he helps others like him get care.
Mr. Norelli’s experience makes him seem like a poster child for legally mandated addiction treatment. At least 37 states now have laws on the books that allow parents, police or concerned others to petition courts to compel rehab through civil commitment if a judge deems someone a threat to themselves or others.
Twenty-five such laws were passed or expanded between 2015 and 2018 alone, according to a recent investigation by The Intercept, and this growth continues. This month, Massachusetts proposed an increase in funding to its civil commitment program for addiction, bringing it to about $23 million. In March, Gov. Gavin Newsom of California proposed a new system of “CARE Courts,” to expand civil commitment for homeless people with schizophrenia and often addiction.
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