Providing drug use disorder treatment and other non-custodial alternatives to conviction or punishment for people who use drugs and with drug use disorders in contact with the criminal justice system in appropriate criminal cases (hereafter “treatment and care as alternatives”, for ease of reading)1 carries the potential to improve individual and public health, well-being and safety. Treatment and care as alternatives need to be available throughout the criminal justice system and the criminal justice proceedings (pre-arrest, pretrial, trial and post-sentencing). This discussion paper summarizes emerging implementation principles and practices in this field to support United Nations Member States and other relevant stakeholders in their efforts to take action.

The discussion paper was prepared by the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) in response to Commission on Narcotic Drugs (CND) resolution 58/5 on “Supporting the collaboration of public health and justice authorities in pursuing alternative measures to conviction or punishment for appropriate drug-related offences of a minor nature” which invited UNODC, “in consultation with Member States and, as appropriate, relevant international and regional organizations, to provide guidelines and/or tools on the collaboration of justice and health authorities on alternative measures to conviction or punishment for appropriate drug-related offences of a minor nature”.2 While chapter 1 presents an overview of the mandates and rationale in this field, chapter 2 provides principles of implementation and their accompanying elements. Finally, chapter 3 operationalizes the principles in a framework of implementation, both from the point of view of the proceedings of the criminal justice system and of a programme cycle process.