Involuntary commitment laws for substance use authorize the involuntary arrest, detention, and/or treatment of an individual for substance use. This dataset examines important features of involuntary commitment laws specifically focused on substance use.
This dataset examines statutes and regulations regarding the effect of incarceration on the state Medicaid enrollment status of Medicaid eligible people. This dataset includes questions on jurisdictions terminating Medicaid upon incarceration, suspending Medicaid upon incarceration, and how long Medicaid can be suspended. As this dataset only considers statutes and regulations, policies of correction departments and individual correctional facilities are not reflected here.
This dataset is cross-sectional, capturing currently effective law valid through August 1, 2019.
This dataset examines statutes that authorize the prosecution of drug-related deaths as criminal killings. Oftentimes referred to as drug induced homicide laws, these laws establish criminal liability for individuals who furnish or deliver controlled substances to another individual who dies as a result. These laws vary from state to state in how they are classified, how they are sentenced, and what elements need to be proven. This dataset highlights these differences among state drug induced homicide laws.
The Problem: Tobacco use is a source of chronic and fatal illnesses for users and people exposed to tobacco smoke. Second-hand smoke exposure contributes to 41,000 deaths among non-smoking adults, and 400 infants annually. Second-hand exposure can lead to stroke, lung cancer and coronary heart disease. Children exposed to second-hand smoke are at increased risk for slowed lung growth, asthma, acute respiratory infections, middle ear infections and sudden infant death syndrome.
Center for Public Health Initiatives, University of Pennsylvania
Corey Davis, JD, MSPH •
University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
Leo Beletsky, JD, MPH •
Health in Justice Action Lab
A new Perspective article in the New England Journal of Medicine examines a recent decision by a Philadelphia judge to reject the argument that an overdose prevention site, called Safehouse, would violate the Controlled Substances Act.
The decision signals a move toward an approach to regulating drugs that minimizes both the harms of drugs and the harms caused by regulation itself – worthy goals all around, the authors write.
Tobacco use remains a leading cause of preventable death in the United States, known to cause cancer and other harmful health conditions, including, but not limited to, respiratory and cardiovascular disease. Implementing evidence-based policies that reduce smoking and tobacco consumption can decrease tobacco-related illnesses and death. One of the most effective strategies to decrease tobacco use is to raise the price of tobacco products, something which state governments can accomplish by establishing specific taxes and pricing limits for tobacco products.
Across the country, a rise in the misuse of injectable opioids and heroin means more people are at higher risk of contracting infectious diseases from using contaminated syringes. Sharing syringes provides a direct route of transmission for blood-borne diseases such as the hepatitis C virus (HCV), hepatitis B virus (HBV), and human immunodeficiency virus (HIV). Symptoms may not appear for years, meaning individuals who inject drugs may share needles and unknowingly spread diseases to others.
This legal map presents statutes and regulations that authorize the involuntary commitment of substance users, in effect as of March 1, 2018. It catalogs the statutory standards authorizing commitment, parties authorized to petition for a commitment, provisions surrounding clinical assessments, parameters of judicial review, time periods for commitment authorization, allowable treatment, and procedures for recommitment.
