Creative Law Enforcement Focuses on Treatment

(Summer 2017) Unfortunately, drug overdose fatalities continue to rise across our nation. Over 60% of these deaths are opioid-related. In fact, more than 91 Americans perish each day from an opioid overdose. Because many first-responders to an overdose call are law enforcement, those users lucky enough to survive a brush with death are often charged with crimes.

Given this fact, what does the general population of our prison system currently look like when it comes to drug use? According to the National Center on Addiction and Substance Abuse, close to 67% of the 2.3 million individuals incarcerated in the U.S. are afflicted with a substance use disorder (SUD). In addition to the toll taken on lives, the opioid crisis also bears a high financial cost. A 2016 study showed that opioid misuse, abuse, overdose and dependence cost the penal system $7.7 in criminal justice-related costs. A majority of this cost was paid for by local and state governments.

But is this the wisest commitment of resources?   The prosecution and incarceration process does virtually nothing to deal with the addiction condition, the SUD.  From a monetary standpoint, each dollar committed to SUD treatment results in a savings of four dollars in health care spending and seven dollars in the criminal justice budget.

Law enforcement officers nationwide are keying into the importance of SUD treatment and developing new lines of attack for the opioid crisis. Sheriff and police departments are using naloxone for overdoses, working to provide treatment access instead of jail time to nonviolent offenders and supporting the provision of treatment for those entering the criminal justice system. A large percentage of jails are choosing to allocate portions of their own funds to establish and run these initiatives.

Sheriff departments across the country are also working in tandem with lawmakers to tackle the SUD problem. Some are working to suspend, instead of terminate, Medicaid coverage while violators are imprisoned. Others, such as in Charlotte County, Florida, are replicating the very promising ANGEL program, started in Gloucester, Massachusetts, allowing drug-addicted individuals access to treatment and the ability to surrender their drugs without the threat of prosecution. Meanwhile, Ohio’s Franklin County has developed a drug court. In just two years, it has shaved $1 million off the county’s budget and reclaimed many lives in the Columbus area.

Additionally, the sheriff’s department in McClean County, Illinois has rolled out an initiative to curb recidivism rates by helping inmates enroll in Medicaid so they have health care coverage when leaving prison. The project is being widely instituted across the country.

However, these and similar programs nationwide may be in danger.  Indicators from the Trump administration appear to foreshadow an emphasis on prosecution instead of treatment.

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