Addiction Should Be Treated — Not Simply Punished

For decades, Tennessee families have watched the opioid and addiction crisis devastate our communities.

We have buried our children, our parents, our siblings, our friends and our neighbors.

And for too many Tennesseans who survive addiction, the next stop is not treatment.

It is jail.

It is prison.

It is a criminal record that can follow them for the rest of their lives.

We are calling on Tennessee's Governor and General Assembly to make rehabilitation the preferred alternative to incarceration for eligible nonviolent offenses driven primarily by substance use disorder.

This is not a call to eliminate accountability.

It is a call to make accountability actually accomplish something.

If someone's criminal behavior is being driven by addiction, putting that person behind bars without addressing the addiction does not solve the underlying problem. Eventually, that person will return to the community — often carrying the same addiction, fewer employment opportunities, disrupted family relationships and a criminal record.

We can do better.

In fact, Tennessee already acknowledges that rehabilitation works.

The state operates recovery courts, community corrections, substance-use treatment programs, criminal-justice liaison programs and community resource centers designed to divert eligible people from incarceration and help them recover.

Our demand is simple:

Make that philosophy the rule rather than the exception.

We are asking Tennessee leaders to:
Expand recovery and treatment courts statewide so access to rehabilitation does not depend on the county where someone happens to be arrested.
Create a statewide rehabilitation-first pathway for eligible nonviolent offenses when substance use disorder is a significant underlying factor.
Require clinical substance-use and mental-health assessments before sentencing eligible defendants whose offenses appear connected to addiction.
Expand residential and outpatient treatment capacity so judges actually have somewhere to send people instead of jail.
Increase access to medication-assisted treatment, mental-health care and peer recovery services throughout the criminal justice system.
Connect rehabilitation with employment, education and workforce training so recovery includes a realistic path toward independence.
Provide transitional and recovery housing for participants who would otherwise return directly to environments that contributed to their addiction.
Strengthen family reunification and parenting services for people whose addiction has separated them from their children.
Expand diversion and alternatives to incarceration for eligible probation and parole violations related primarily to relapse or substance use.
Measure and publicly report outcomes including recidivism, employment, housing stability, treatment completion, overdose and taxpayer costs so Tennesseans can see which approaches actually work.
Tennessee Already Knows Rehabilitation Matters
This is not some radical experiment.

Tennessee already operates programs based on the idea that treatment can improve public safety.

Recovery courts allow eligible people with substance use disorders to receive intensive treatment and supervision in the community.

Community Corrections provides alternatives to incarceration for eligible nonviolent felony offenders.

Tennessee's own correctional system provides substance-use treatment with the stated goal of breaking the cycle of substance use, criminal behavior and incarceration.

The question is no longer whether Tennessee understands the value of rehabilitation.

The question is why we aren't making it available to far more people who need it.

We Cannot Incarcerate Our Way Out of Addiction
The opioid epidemic did not happen in a vacuum.

For years, pharmaceutical companies, distributors, healthcare systems, lobbyists and government policymakers made decisions that shaped the availability and regulation of prescription opioids in America.

Tennessee communities have paid an enormous price.

One of Tennessee's most powerful political leaders, Marsha Blackburn, was a cosponsor of H.R. 471, the House version of legislation concerning DEA enforcement against controlled-substance distributors. The related legislation ultimately became federal law in 2016. Questions about that law's effect on federal opioid-diversion enforcement later became serious enough that Blackburn herself requested information from HHS and the DEA about its impact.

Regardless of political party, Tennesseans deserve accountability for the policy decisions that helped shape this crisis.

But accountability cannot stop with politicians, pharmaceutical companies or institutions.

It must also change how we treat the people living with the consequences.

We should not respond to a public-health catastrophe by simply filling jail cells with the people who became addicted.

Rehabilitation Is Not Being Soft on Crime
Rehabilitation requires accountability.

Treatment courts can require participants to attend therapy, undergo drug testing, maintain employment or education, appear before a judge, follow treatment plans and meet strict requirements.

The difference is the goal.

Punishment asks:

“How long should this person suffer for what they did?”

Rehabilitation asks:

“What must this person do so they don't do it again?”

For people who pose a genuine danger to others, incarceration will remain necessary.

But for eligible nonviolent offenders whose crimes are primarily driven by addiction, Tennessee should exhaust evidence-based treatment and rehabilitation options before resorting to incarceration.

That is not weakness.

That is public safety with a long-term strategy.

Imagine What We Could Build Instead
Imagine someone entering the criminal justice system because addiction has consumed their life.

Instead of simply processing that person into jail, imagine Tennessee immediately assessing them.

Treatment.

Mental healthcare.

Recovery housing.

Education.

Job training.

Employment.

Family support.

Accountability.

Supervision.

And eventually, independence.

Imagine that person becoming a taxpayer instead of remaining trapped in a cycle of incarceration.

Imagine a parent recovering and becoming capable of caring for their children again.

Imagine someone leaving treatment with a certification and a job instead of leaving prison with nowhere to live.

Imagine measuring success not by how many people Tennessee incarcerates — but by how many never return to the criminal justice system.

That is the Tennessee we are asking our leaders to build.

Our Demand
We call upon the Governor of Tennessee, the Tennessee General Assembly, the Tennessee Department of Correction, the Tennessee Department of Mental Health and Substance Abuse Services, prosecutors, judges and local governments to work together to establish a comprehensive statewide Rehabilitation Over Incarceration Initiative.

The initiative should prioritize evidence-based treatment, recovery courts, mental healthcare, workforce development, education, housing and reentry support for eligible nonviolent individuals whose involvement with the criminal justice system is substantially connected to substance use disorder.

Tennessee does not have to choose between compassion and public safety.

Rehabilitation can be public safety.

A person who receives treatment, finds employment, rebuilds their family and never commits another crime represents a victory for everyone.

For victims.

For families.

For taxpayers.

For law enforcement.

For our communities.

And for Tennessee.

If you believe addiction should be treated, recovery should be possible, and prison should not be Tennessee's primary answer to a substance-use disorder, sign this petition.

Then share it.

Because Tennessee cannot incarcerate its way out of addiction.

It's time to choose rehabilitation over incarceration.