It’s no secret that America has a problem with drugs. 

How to handle that in a way that protects lives from ruin is something the country has grappled with since at least the 1980s.

This week, two courts started down very different paths seeking solutions.

In Cleveland, Ohio – one of many communities ravaged by a national opioid epidemic that claims 150 lives every day – US District Judge Daniel Polster decided he was tired of waiting for the government to come up with a solution. So he called pharmaceutical executives, law enforcement officials, and government lawyers into his courtroom to try to hammer out a settlement.

“This is an unusual case,” Judge Polster told Bloomberg News of what he sees as his duty to take on a “100 percent man-made crisis.” “The problem is urgent, life-threatening, and ongoing. I took this step because I thought it would be the most effective path.”

Also on Wednesday, San Francisco’s district attorney announced that his office was going to dismiss and seal the records of 3,000 people convicted of misdemeanor marijuana possession between 1975 and the legalization of the drug Jan. 1. About 5,000 felony convictions could end up being reduced to misdemeanors, District Attorney George Gascón said, citing racial bias. In 2011, for example, African-Americans made up 6 percent of San Francisco’s population but accounted for half of all marijuana arrests.

“A criminal conviction can be a barrier to employment, housing and other benefits,” he said in a statement, “so instead of waiting for the community to take action, we're taking action for the community.”

Now, here are our five stories of the day, highlighting power shifts, a search for equity, and reckoning with the past.