Dr. Morris is a Resident in Psychiatry at the Stanford University School of Medicine, Stanford, California.
J Am Acad Psychiatry Law. 2019 Dec;47(4):493-503. doi: 10.29158/JAAPL.003883-19. Epub 2019 Sep 18.
Problem-solving courts have developed across the United states to offer specific offenders, including those with substance use or mental disorders, alternatives to incarceration that often involve community-based treatment services and judicial supervision. At the same time, dozens of states have legalized the use of cannabis for medical or recreational purposes, even as cannabis use remains illegal under federal law. State legalization of cannabis use has introduced legal and medical complexities for problem-solving courts, particularly concerning the management of offenders who use cannabis. This article reviews implications of cannabis use for defendants' eligibility and participation in problem-solving courts, with a focus on adult drug courts and mental health courts. This article also examines a range of policies, such as abstinence-based, tolerance-based, and adaptive approaches, that problem-solving courts may consider implementing. Further research is needed to characterize existing problem-solving court policies toward cannabis use and to develop evidence-based practices that courts may follow.
问题解决法院已经在美国各地发展起来，为特定的罪犯提供替代监禁的选择，包括那些有药物滥用或精神障碍的罪犯，这些选择通常涉及基于社区的治疗服务和司法监督。与此同时，数十个州已经将大麻用于医疗或娱乐目的合法化，尽管根据联邦法律，大麻的使用仍然是非法的。大麻使用在法律和医疗方面给问题解决法院带来了复杂性，特别是在管理使用大麻的罪犯方面。本文回顾了大麻使用对被告在问题解决法院的资格和参与的影响，重点是成人毒品法院和心理健康法院。本文还研究了一系列政策，如基于禁欲、基于容忍和适应性方法，问题解决法院可能会考虑实施这些政策。需要进一步的研究来描述现有的问题解决法院对大麻使用的政策，并制定法院可能遵循的循证实践。
