Judge: I'm ready to 'save lives' with addiction treatment under Ohio's updated Casey's Law

A Hamilton County judge wants families who have loved ones with addiction to know there is a new avenue available to them in his court to get them treatment.

Ohio's version of Casey's Law, a civil involuntary treatment option, has been updated. It requires a Probate Court order, and Judge Ralph Winkler said Thursday he's ready to get started considering cases – and helping people get the treatment they need.

"I don't like that it's called involuntary treatment," Winkler said at a news conference in his courtroom. "My hope is that once people start using the law, it will become cooperative with the people who need the help."

Ohio's Casey's Law is similar to the Matthew Casey Wethington Act for Substance Abuse Intervention, enacted in 2004 in Kentucky.

Grieving mother Charlotte Wethington of Kenton County advocated for the law, asking the Kentucky General Assembly to let families petition the court for a civil order for their loved ones to get addiction treatment. Her son, Casey, died from an overdose in 2002 at the age of 23. His mother had tried to get him treatment but was refused because Casey was not willing to go into treatment himself.

Wethington told Winkler, "Those who suffer from this disease are worthy."

She noted that many who refused treatment and were ordered to get it through Casey's Law in Kentucky have said it's saved their lives.

Some have gone on to use again, and others have remained in recovery.

But the involuntary treatment law is currently under constitutional review in the Kentucky Supreme Court.

Under a challenge of constitutionality, the future of Casey's Law is cloaked and uncertain

The original Ohio version of Casey's Law went into effect in 2012, but it was rarely used. Treatment advocates who looked into why learned that it was difficult to access and expensive for families. Newtown Police Chief Tom Synan, a vocal advocate for treatment for those with addiction rather than jail and prosecution, stepped forward to lead a committee in the Hamilton County Addiction Response Coalition to fix the law five years ago.

"I'm hoping that this becomes a tool that transitions addiction out of the criminal justice system and into the medical-mental health treatment system," said Synan.

Winkler said his court got few petitions from families in its original form and he wants people to know that the new rules make it more user-friendly.

"There were too many hoops to jump through," Winkler said. Changes to the law, which went into effect in April 2021, include these:

• Families aren't required to put up half the cost of treatment upfront.
• There is no filing fee.
• No proof of insurance or coverage for half the cost of treatment is required upfront.
• Those seeking the intervention do not have to have their loved one get a physical examination first.

Now, a family member of someone with a substance use disorder can come to the probate court office and ask Winkler's staff to give them and help them get through the paperwork for a petition.

Then, with the help of an addiction expert, Winkler will consider evidence of the need for treatment. That evidence may be that the person's in danger of harming himself or others or that they've had an overdose that required medical treatment to reverse.

Hamilton County Commissioner Denise Driehaus said the county addiction response coalition has been working to build ways for people with substance use disorder to get help and said Casey's Law "is just one more step to break down one of those barriers for the public."

Synan said he gets calls frequently – even as recently as last week – from parents of those who are suffering from addiction who want to know what more they can do to help their adult children. "People are at the end of their rope," Synan said. "They're convinced their loved one is going to die and, unfortunately, we know that happens."

Winkler said he wants to take part in saving lives with Casey's Law.

He said that if someone's family petitions the court while the individual is hospitalized, even that won't prevent him from quickly holding a hearing (as long as his court is not overwhelmed with cases). "I'd be willing to go to the hospital to hold a hearing ... and talk to them," Winkler said.

And Winkler noted that he hopes to lean toward ordering intensive outpatient care for people who come before him so that they are not committed to a residential treatment center.

Asked about whether incarceration of someone who violated his order – leaving treatment – will be an option, Winkler said, "It would be such a last ditch effort to save someone's life" before he would have them jailed for contempt of a civil order.

"This is a no-judgment zone," Winkler said. "You won't get a conviction from me, you'll get help."