Representative DelBene Cited in Debate Over Flawed Drug Diversion Program Statistics
During the May 2016 floor debate for criminal justice reform elements of the Comprehensive Opioid Abuse Reduction Act, U.S. Representative Suzan DelBene (D-WA) presented the Law Enforcement Assisted Diversion (LEAD) program, citing a false 60% reduction in reoffending to advocate for her amendment to codify drug diversion programs into federal law. This claim, along with others, was based on statistical errors that significantly exaggerated the program's effectiveness in improving lives and reducing crime. Other Democrats and Republicans also supported LEAD by repeatedly referencing these inflated numbers. Consequently, Congress later codified LEAD into federal law by name, with members continuing to cite these falsehoods in subsequent years. The national movement for LEAD, which has spread across dozens of cities in over twenty states and received hundreds of millions of dollars in federal, state, local, and philanthropic funding, was founded on these inaccurate statistics. 
