North Carolina Invests $1.5 Million to Expand Jail Diversion Program Connecting People to Treatment

North Carolina is betting that the path to safer communities doesn't always run through jail cells. On March 24, 2026, Governor Josh Stein announced a $1.5 million expansion of Law Enforcement Assisted Diversion (LEAD) programs, bringing an evidence-based alternative to incarceration to seven more law enforcement agencies across the state. The investment signals a shift in how communities respond to low-level, nonviolent crimes driven by substance use—moving from punitive measures toward treatment and recovery support.

"We can't arrest our way out of addiction," Governor Stein said at the announcement. "We need treatment and recovery services so that people can get well, follow the law, and contribute to their communities."

What LEAD Does Differently

LEAD operates on a simple premise: when police encounter someone whose criminal behavior stems from addiction or mental health struggles, case management and social services often work better than handcuffs. Instead of booking individuals into jail for offenses like shoplifting, trespassing, or drug possession—crimes that frequently correlate with untreated substance use disorder—officers can refer them directly to peer outreach workers.

Those workers screen each person for eligibility, then connect them with a dedicated case manager who coordinates access to mental health services, medical care, housing assistance, job training, and addiction treatment. The goal isn't to eliminate accountability but to address the underlying issues that fuel repeat contact with law enforcement in the first place.

Fayetteville pioneered the approach in North Carolina, launching its LEAD program in 2016 as one of the first in the South and among the earliest in the nation. The Cumberland County Sheriff's Office joined in 2023. Now, with state funding coordinated through the North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services (NCDHHS) and administered by the North Carolina Harm Reduction Coalition (NCHRC), six additional jurisdictions will roll out their own programs: Albemarle Police Department, Gaston County Police Department, Greensboro Police Department and Community Safety Department, New Hanover County Sheriff's Office, Robeson County Sheriff's Office, and Harnett County Sheriff's Office.

The Evidence Behind Diversion

Dr. Elyse Powell, Executive Director of the North Carolina Harm Reduction Coalition, pointed to outcomes data showing participants in LEAD are nearly 40 percent less likely to be rearrested or face new charges after enrollment. That reduction stems from addressing what drives people into the justice system repeatedly: unstable housing, untreated mental illness, lack of healthcare access, and substance use disorder without pathways to recovery.

North Carolina Health and Human Services Secretary Dev Sangvai framed LEAD as an example of integrated care in action. "LEAD recognizes that substance use challenges are public health issues with public safety consequences," he said. "What we are launching today is a system that allows communities to respond better and more efficiently to people with substance use and mental health needs."

The model aligns with growing research showing that traditional criminal justice responses to addiction often exacerbate rather than resolve the problem. Jail time disrupts employment, housing, and family stability—factors that protect against relapse—while offering little in the way of clinical treatment. People cycle in and out of custody without ever accessing the medication-assisted treatment, behavioral therapy, or social support that might break the pattern.

LEAD short-circuits that cycle by intervening before booking. Officers still maintain discretion about when diversion is appropriate, typically focusing on cases where criminal behavior is minor, nonviolent, and clearly linked to substance use or mental health crises rather than predatory intent.

Funding and Coordination

The $1.5 million investment comes at a time when many communities recognize the need for alternatives to incarceration but lack the infrastructure or expertise to build programs from scratch. NCHRC will serve as the central coordinating partner, providing technical assistance, workforce development, cross-system coordination, data reporting support, and implementation oversight to the seven participating agencies.

That centralized model addresses a challenge that has stalled diversion efforts elsewhere: law enforcement agencies and behavioral health providers often operate in separate silos with limited experience working together. NCHRC's role includes facilitating partnerships, ensuring data collection to measure outcomes, and supporting long-term sustainability beyond the initial grant period.

The funding builds on earlier expansions supported by opioid settlement dollars—money North Carolina secured through litigation against pharmaceutical companies that fueled the overdose crisis. Governor Stein, who championed those settlements during his tenure as Attorney General, has consistently advocated for using the funds to support treatment access rather than solely enforcement-focused strategies.

Unserved Areas Get Priority

One criterion for the current expansion was geographic equity. NCHRC emphasized supporting unserved areas that lack the resources to operate diversion programs independently. Many of the seven new jurisdictions are smaller counties or cities where public health budgets are stretched thin and addiction treatment infrastructure remains limited.

Greensboro, for example, announced it would use the funding to expand services through its Police Department and newly established Community Safety Department—a city agency focused on non-emergency responses involving mental health and substance use. The dual-agency approach reflects Greensboro's broader effort to reduce reliance on armed police for situations better suited to social workers or peer specialists.

Fayetteville's decade of experience offers a roadmap. When the city launched LEAD in 2016, it required building trust between police officers skeptical of "soft" interventions and social service providers unfamiliar with law enforcement culture. Over time, officers saw that diverting people to treatment didn't mean ignoring crime—it meant reducing the same individuals' repeated appearances in police reports.

What Happens After Enrollment

LEAD's effectiveness depends on what happens after the initial referral. Peer outreach workers—often people with lived experience of addiction and justice involvement—meet individuals where they are, sometimes literally on the street or in emergency departments. That initial contact establishes a connection that traditional court-mandated treatment often lacks.

Case managers then coordinate services tailored to each person's needs. For someone living unhoused with opioid use disorder, that might mean securing temporary shelter, enrolling in Medicaid, starting medication-assisted treatment with buprenorphine, and connecting with peer recovery support groups. For another person struggling with methamphetamine use and untreated schizophrenia, the plan might prioritize psychiatric care, cognitive-behavioral therapy, and stable housing before addressing substance use directly.

The model is voluntary, not coercive. Participants can decline services or disengage without triggering immediate arrest, though officers retain the option to pursue charges if someone refuses diversion and the original offense warrants it. Research suggests voluntary engagement produces better long-term outcomes than court-ordered treatment, partly because intrinsic motivation to change predicts sustained recovery more reliably than external pressure.

Challenges Ahead

Expanding LEAD to seven new jurisdictions will test whether the model's success in Fayetteville translates to communities with different demographics, resources, and political climates. Some challenges are predictable: training officers to recognize when diversion is appropriate, building case management capacity to handle increased referrals, ensuring mental health and substance use treatment providers have availability for rapid intake, and sustaining funding once the initial grant runs out.

Others are less tangible. LEAD requires cultural shifts within law enforcement agencies accustomed to viewing arrest as the primary tool for addressing crime. Officers need reassurance that diversion doesn't undermine public safety or let people "get away" with illegal behavior—a mindset shift that takes time and visible results.

Community buy-in matters too. Some residents view diversion programs as coddling criminals; others worry that without the threat of incarceration, people won't take treatment seriously. Fayetteville's experience suggests those concerns diminish when communities see fewer repeat offenses, lower jail populations, and individuals who were once frequent police contacts stabilizing their lives.

A Public Health Lens on Public Safety

North Carolina's expansion reflects a broader reconsideration of how states address the intersection of addiction and criminal justice. The traditional approach—arrest, prosecution, incarceration, release—has produced neither effective treatment nor lasting public safety gains. Overdose deaths continue, jails remain overcrowded with people cycling through for minor offenses, and communities bear the costs of both addiction and incarceration without seeing meaningful reductions in either.

LEAD doesn't solve every problem. It targets a specific population: people whose criminal behavior is minor, nonviolent, and driven primarily by untreated substance use or mental health conditions. It won't address violent crime, organized drug trafficking, or offenses unrelated to health challenges. But for the thousands of North Carolinians arrested each year for low-level offenses linked to addiction, the program offers something the justice system rarely provides: a pathway out.

Governor Stein's framing—"We can't arrest our way out of addiction"—captures the tension at the heart of American drug policy. For decades, enforcement dominated the response to substance use, with predictable results: mass incarceration, racial disparities, disrupted families, and an overdose crisis that killed more than 100,000 Americans in 2023 alone. LEAD represents a different bet: that treating addiction as a public health issue with public safety consequences, rather than a purely criminal matter, produces better outcomes for individuals and communities alike.

Whether that bet pays off depends on execution—training, funding, coordination, and the willingness of law enforcement, healthcare providers, and communities to embrace an approach that asks them to rethink assumptions about crime, punishment, and recovery. North Carolina's $1.5 million investment is a meaningful step, but it's only a beginning. The real measure of success will come in the months and years ahead, tracked in arrest records, treatment enrollments, and the lives of people who might otherwise have disappeared into the revolving door between the street and the jail.