According to WBUR, State Senator Nick Collins introduced a bill that would authorize the state to hold a person at a Department of Public Health facility “for up to 72 hours if a petition to involuntarily commit that person to addiction treatment has been filed.” Currently, Massachusetts law permits officers or a family member to petition a court to send someone to treatment against their will, authorizing an officer to “issue a warrant and bring someone to court – so long as the courts are open”. If the courts are not open when the warrant is issued, the warrant expires. Collins explains that many drug users are found at night or late in the afternoon when the courts are closed, thus leaving a correctional facility as the only available option.