Local courts are in a unique position to intervene in the opioid crisis, but face steep challenges to help addicts, according to a recent national report.

In reality, courts struggle with the lack of access to effective treatment programs, and the epidemic’s crushing effect on children, including babies born with addictions and strain on foster care, according to a report compiled after a three-year study from the National Judicial Opioid Task Force, co-chaired by Indiana Chief Justice Loretta Rush.

Last year, nearly 120 people died per day from opioid overdoses in the U.S., the report stated.

Addicts were 13 times as likely to land in state courts, it concluded, where an estimated 96 percent of cases were filed.

“The numbers are staggering, and the toll on communities across the country is devastating,” it said. “The state court justice system is now the top referral source for addiction treatment in the country.”

Lake County had around 150 total drug overdose deaths in 2018, compared to nearly 50 in Porter County, a drop from records set in 2017.

Nearly 400,000 people died in the U.S. from an opioid overdose between 1999 and 2017, according to estimates from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

The report focuses on how the courts can intervene: FDA-approved addiction treatments including methadone, naltrexone, and buprenorphine in drug court; setting up protocols for naloxone/narcan, used to prevent overdoses; addressing treatment access and barriers, including stigma, lack of insurance, housing, and transportation; encouraging peer guidance for families in the child welfare system; educating judges on underlying causes for addiction.

It notes federal funds often do not make it to local courts where the need is greatest, rather typically going through state executive branches.

Opioid deaths have come in “three waves”: starting with a jump in overdoses from over-prescribed painkillers during the 1990s; the transition to heroin, starting around 2010; and an increase in overdoses from synthetic opioids, like fentanyl, from 2013 on, the CDC said.

OxyContin maker Purdue Pharma, headed by the Sackler family, filed for bankruptcy in September. Last month, a judge overseeing 2,500 federal lawsuits related to the nation’s opioid crisis scheduled a trial for late next year over the role played by major pharmacy chains.

U.S. District Court Judge Dan Polster in Cleveland ruled last month that he would hear a case next October brought by two counties in Ohio against CVS, Rite Aid, Walgreens, HBC and Discount Drug Mart.

The Associated Press contributed.