Harm Reduction as an Alternative to Mandated Drug Treatment

In "Mandated Drug Treatment in the Criminal Legal System-a Blunt but Necessary Tool?," in this issue of the Hastings Center Report, Brendan Saloner examines the empirical evidence surrounding mandated treatment, weighs pragmatic ethical arguments for and social justice arguments against the practice, and ultimately supplies a qualified defense of it. This commentary augments Saloner's egalitarian social justice perspective by outlining the legal principles of the police power and the parens patriae power, then uses this framework to illustrate the legal and ethical risks of mandated and involuntary treatment, and finally responds to Saloner's call for an affirmative vision of a more proportionate response.