ANGELS for Heroin Users

(Winter 2015) Police departments nationwide are piloting programs based on one started in Gloucester, Massachusetts earlier this year which gives treatment for drug abuse instead of jail time. Gloucester police report that numerous departments in nine states (Ohio, Florida, Connecticut, Illinois, Missouri, Maine, Vermont, New York and Pennsylvania) are setting up similar programs. The initiative is also linked to lowering crime rates associated with addiction, e.g., larceny, breaking and entering and shoplifting, plunged 23% this summer in Gloucester compared to summer 2014.

Under Gloucester’s plan, individuals addicted to illegal substances can go to the police station and be connected to treatment resources — as long as they pledge to stop abusing drugs. They are also paired with a volunteer “angel” who gives them support. The program has cost the department less than $14,000 to date and is powered by funds recovered in drug arrests. Over 260 people have received treatment since the inception of Gloucester’s ANGEL strategy.

Other police departments are putting their own spin on the program, with some providing free naloxone to help reverse opioid overdoses, while others employ a network of over 50 addiction treatment centers across the country.

Taking further steps, the Gloucester Police Department recently scheduled a meeting with drug manufacturer Pfizer to discuss how to fight the problem of opioid addiction. The announcement came soon after the North Shore Police Department asked its residents to make their voices heard to large pharmaceutical companies, charging that Pfizer, Johnson & Johnson, Merck, Abbot Labs and Eli Lilly all manufacture prescription drugs that add to this severe issue.

Gloucester also seeks to effect change on how the prescription monitoring program, which traces opiate prescriptions, integrates information from providers and pharmacists between states.

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