Do drug treatment courts work? I guess it depends on how you evaluate success. In my opinion, a success of 10%.... The Canadian Centre on Substance Abuse claimed those standards of care are not acceptable at 10%. So I wouldn't say they are effective.
Another concern with that is, do they work to further criminalize more people before they have access to treatment? Yes, if that's the measure of your success. Would they steer more people to drug courts? Maybe. But in terms of coercion, which drug courts work on, and some people will go through them.... But like the Winnipeg drug court evaluation says, they are the better-advantaged people already. Other studies show that they're the people with less minor addictions, whether it's marijuana or alcohol. But, for example, in the Ottawa drug court, you're not allowed in with alcoholism. More people might be steered in, but it's not going to increase the success rates.