The General Assembly hereby acknowledges that opioid use disorders, overdoses, and deaths in Illinois are persistent and growing concerns for Illinois communities. These concerns compound existing challenges to adequately address and manage substance use and mental health disorders. Local government agencies, law enforcement officers, other first responders, and co-responders have a unique opportunity to facilitate connections to community-based services, including case management, and mental and behavioral health interventions that provide harm reduction or substance use treatment and can help save and restore lives; help reduce drug use, overdose incidence, criminal offending, and recidivism; and help prevent arrest and conviction records that destabilize health, families, and opportunities for community citizenship and self-sufficiency. These efforts are bolstered when pursued in partnership with licensed behavioral health treatment providers and community members or organizations. It is the intent of the General Assembly to authorize law enforcement, other first responders, and local government agencies to develop and implement collaborative deflection programs in Illinois that offer immediate pathways to substance use treatment and other services as an alternative to traditional case processing and involvement in the criminal justice system, and to unnecessary admission to emergency departments.