Imagine your aunt has developed diabetes and you want her to get better. Medical science suggest s that m edicine might help, but you decide that the better strategy is to lock your aunt in a room and force her to eat only lettuce — even though she hates vegetables. No medication, no discussion of other options.

Does this seem absurd? Illegal? It’s both of those, and no medical professional would advise it. But we are doing more or less the same to people who use drugs.

Laws in many states authorize family members, health care providers or police offi cers to as k courts to send someone who has not been convicted of any crime to be detained for involu ntary addiction treatment; in many cases this means being locked in a jail or prison.

In places like Massachusetts, where the overdose crisis has been particularly destructive, these jails and prisons are being rebranded as “treatment facilities.”