Portage was not created for people who are in conflict with the law, but for people with very serious drug addition problems, mostly with heroin. When I talk about it, I ask people to think of Alcoholics Anonymous, but at a higher level. Obviously, some of the people who go to Portage are in conflict with the law but others were not yet in that situation.
I know that it is a completely different approach and that to become eligible to drug treatment courts, the person must have been charged by a criminal court.