Drug users who are caught with small amounts of heroin and meth are increasingly being given a pass across the country by law enforcement after a pilot program in Seattle, which favors treatment over prison, was expanded to 25 cities and has now piqued the curiosity of lawmakers on Capitol Hill.

The Law Enforcement Assisted Diversion (LEAD) program, which was most recently expanded to Louisville, Ky., puts offenders into community-based care instead of getting snarled up in the system when caught with under a gram of narcotics. Community care varies from city to city and ranges from outpatient drug-treatment programs to counseling, among other programs.

Supporters say the program is an effective way to stop “arresting away” the country’s growing drug problem but critics argue it is a costly and dangerous initiative that has not been independently studied.

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“Ultimately, we have to break cycles of addiction to break cycles of arrest,” one Seattle-based police officer said. “We can’t just stop prosecuting crimes then look at numbers and say look we have less drug crime.”

LEAD was started in 2011 in the Belltown neighborhood of Seattle with four case managers and was funded by grants from private foundations, costing $435,000 in its first year. Since then, it’s been expanded to cover most of the city. Seattle and King County have stepped up to provide additional funding in the years since LEAD was put into play.

LEAD’s National Support Bureau director Najja Morris said participants are 58 percent less likely to be re-arrested than other chronic drug abusers who are sentenced to jail time. That’s good news to cash-strapped communities who are dealing with prison overcrowding and rising numbers of addiction.

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Seattle’s early success caught the attention of other cities across the country struggling with everything from opioid abuse to meth addiction.

In Louisville, which implemented the program this week, police have the option to allow up to 50 people to opt out of jail time if they’re suspected of committing low-level drug offenses driven by an opioid abuse disorder.

“In many cases, these folks mean no harm,” Louisville Mayor Greg Fischer said in a statement. “They’re struggling with a disease. Throwing them into jails and courts that are already overcrowded and backlogged doesn’t serve their needs or the city’s needs.”

The program has been so popular that it is currently operating in more than 20 cities stretching from Portland, Oregon to Huntington, West Virginia. Another 36 cities are exploring similar steps. Not all of the programs are carbon copies but instead tailored to meet the city’s needs.

Waynesville, North Carolina, Det. Paige Shell spent some time in Seattle checking out how they run their program and hopes to duplicate parts of it.

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“We were able to shadow their LEAD program and learn all about their program, what worked and didn’t work, challenges, etc.,” she said about the experience.

Over in West Virginia, the state’s Department of Health and Human Resources announced earlier this year that $600,000 would be made available for its LEAD program. The state has seen a high spike in drugs in recent years and leads the country in overdose deaths.

Seattle lawmaker Rep. Pramila Jayapa, D-Wash., is so convinced LEAD is a good idea that she’s pushing for federal funding – and says she’s gotten positive responses from both sides of the aisle.

Last year, Jayapa sent a letter to the chairman of the House Appropriations Committee asking for $2.5 million for the program in the 2019 budget. At the time, she had only Democratic support but says Republicans have warmed to the idea.

“It’s got the attention of Republicans because LEAD is a program that offers social service to people instead of incarcerating them,” Jayapal told CrossCut.

But not everybody is on board with a program that gives drug users and prostitutes a pass from prosecution. Critics note there could be unintended consequences of the program including dealers adapting the way they do business to stay out of jail.

Another issue, some say, is that forcing people to get clean doesn’t mean it will stick in the long run.

“Trouble with not prosecuting low-level stuff is that it removes incentives for people to go through LEAD and get treatment,” a Seattle police officer told 770-KTTH radio. “If the choice is treatment/sobriety vs. jail, people will choose LEAD. If the choice is LEAD vs no jail time/no sentence, [those] folks will just keep using.”

The officer warned that while LEAD “is a great carrot… we can’t turn our stick into a feather.”