Welcome to the Magistrates Early Referral Into Treatment (MERIT) website.

MERIT is a special program based in Local Courts that provides the opportunity for adult defendants with substance abuse problems to work, on a voluntary basis, towards rehabilitation as part of the bail process.

Participants can be identified by the Magistrate, solicitor, police or the defendants themselves as suitable for assessment for the MERIT program. MERIT Teams, based in NSW Health or non-Government organisations conduct the assessment of participants. Based on the assessment, the defendant may be accepted into MERIT to receive targeted drug or alcohol treatment. The MERIT treatment program will be developed to match the defendant's individual needs. The Court may make the defendant's involvement in MERIT a condition of bail.

Defendants are closely case-managed by the MERIT Team throughout the program and the Magistrate receives regular reports on the participant. The final hearing and sentence generally coincide with the completion of the MERIT program. Magistrates are then able to consider the defendant's progress in treatment as part of final sentencing.

On 1 July 2009, the Rural Alcohol Diversion program formally merged with MERIT. Alcohol MERIT is now available to defendants at select courts whether their primary substance of concern is alcohol or an illicit drug.

Find out the courts offering Alcohol MERIT here.

Similar and/or complementary drug/crime diversion initiatives include:

• (Adult) Drug Court at Parramatta which targets more serious offenders facing a custodial sentence. The MERIT program is distinguished from Drug Court as the defendant is not required to enter a plea of guilty in order to participate in the program.
• Youth Drug and Alcohol Court (YDAC) which aims to reduce re-offending by young people who have become entrenched in the criminal justice system by helping them overcome their drug or alcohol problem.
• The Rural Alcohol Diversion (RAD) program operated at Orange and Bathurst Local Courts from 2004-2009.
  The RAD program was closely based on the Magistrates Early Referral Into Treatment (MERIT) program. The key difference between the programs was that defendants whose primary substance of concern was alcohol were accepted into RAD, whereas to be eligible for MERIT, defendants had to have a demonstrable illicit drug problem.