Pubdate: Thu, 03 Mar 2016
Source: Dallas Morning News (TX)
Copyright: 2016 The Dallas Morning News, Inc.
Contact: http://www.dallasnews.com/opinion/send-a-letter/
Website: http://www.dallasnews.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/117
Author: Dianne Solis

A NEW ROAD TO RECOVERY

City's Police Joining Efforts to Treat Addicts Instead of Jailing Them

GRAPEVINE - Imagine a drug user walking into a police station and 
handing over his drugs and paraphernalia. But instead of police 
putting the addict behind bars, the would-be criminal is taken to a 
treatment facility to get help - without any charges being filed.

That's the essence of a new nationwide initiative coming soon to at 
least one North Texas police department.

Grapevine officials, stung by some drug-related deaths in recent 
years, said Wednesday that they will soon begin participating in the 
Police Assisted Addiction and Recovery Initiative, or PAARI. The 
program takes a more compassionate approach toward drug users by 
treating addiction as a disease rather than simply a crime.

The initiative, which started in Gloucester, Mass., has signed up 
more than six dozen police or sheriff 's departments and several 
dozen treatment centers around the country. In addition to the 
treatment-first approach, Gloucester pharmacies have discounted 
naloxone, a nonaddictive drug that can halt the impact of an overdose.

Grapevine officials say that they have been stunned by the scope of 
the black tar heroin problem facing young users and the parents who 
try to help them.

"We just have to quit incarcerating sick people," Grapevine Police 
Chief Eddie Salame told a breakfast group of treatment providers and 
one state representative Wednesday morning. "We talk to parents on a 
regular basis who have kids hooked."

In January 2013, Grapevine officials investigated the drug-related 
deaths of two young men, ages 17 and 18.

Those deaths came just five months after authorities say a 
34-year-old man and an 18-year-old woman died here in separate drug incidents.

Details for Grapevine's participation in PAARI are still being worked 
out, but the program could launch in this city of 50,000 as soon as 
next month. Salame said that city officials are committed to the 
basic tenet of PAARI, which calls for treatment for heroin and opioid 
users rather than putting them behind bars.

Pat George, the president and CEO of Valley Hope Association, a chain 
of treatment centers with a Grapevine location, said dealing with 
parents of kids who use drugs can be heartbreaking.

"There are not many things sadder than parents talking about their 
kids being addicted," George said.

State Rep. Stephanie Klick, R-Fort Worth, attended Wednesday's 
breakfast and told treatment officials that she, too, wanted to know 
how she could help.

A change in approach

Many observers of the war on drugs by America and other countries 
believe new approaches are needed.

"There is no question that decriminalizing addiction is the wave of 
the future," said Dr. Alex Eastman, deputy medical director for the 
Dallas Police Department and a trauma surgeon at Parkland Memorial Hospital.

In 2015, emergency medical personnel for Dallas Fire-Rescue had about 
204,000 calls, and nearly 4,700 of those were for overdoses, 
resulting in naloxone administration in 475 cases, Eastman said.

But Eastman emphasized that heroin and opioid overdoses haven't 
reached the epidemic proportions in Dallas-Fort Worth that they have 
in the Northeast.

"It doesn't look like we are seeing the same level of prehospital 
opioid use as other places," he said. "We are so lucky we are just 
seeing a tiny fraction of what other cities are."

Dr. Eric Bing, a Southern Methodist University global health 
professor and director of its Center for Global Health Impact, 
believes something like PAARI is needed.

"We have all these people in jail," Bing said, "and it is not helping anyone."

Bing said the PAARI initiative lets police departments tailor the 
program to fit a community.

"It really is a partnership between police, between the community, 
between the treatment center," Bing said. "The thing that 
distinguishes it is it has the word 'police' in it."

Addicts getting treatment before they commit a crime and get a record 
could be transformational, Bing argues.

"Once they have a record, it is a horribly slippery slope," he said. 
"They can't get a job. They can't get housing. We need to keep them 
from getting arrested."

But such initiatives are not without critics. They say certain 
changes in drug policy, such as those involved in the Gloucester 
program, amount to selective enforcement or an amnesty. Gov. Greg 
Abbott vetoed a bill last year that would have given limited criminal 
immunity to Good Samaritans who call 911 to report a drug overdose - 
even if they themselves are in possession of small amounts of illegal 
substances.

Abbott wanted protections in the bill to prevent "its misuse by 
habitual drug abusers and drug dealers," his office said at the time. 
He wanted habitual drug users and dealers eliminated from the measure.

Support for change

At Grapevine Valley Hope, certified therapist Christina Rodriguez 
supports the PAARI program and changes in drug policy.

"Once it gets rolling, it will be a huge asset," Rodriguez said. 
"Opiate use is definitely on the rise. It is not only young adults. 
We are seeing the baby boomers on prescription medication." Those 
prescription drugs can include the widely used painkillers oxycodone 
and Vicodin, which are resold on the streets at $30 a pill.

Mark Kinzly, another PAARI fan and a leader in the Texas Overdose 
Naloxone Initiative, is hopeful that more police departments will 
take part in the new program because, he said, "we cannot arrest our 
way out of it."

Kinzly added that because police officers are often the first people 
on the scene of an overdose, their role is crucial.

"They can save a life," Kinzly said. "They can go from not being 
wanted to being a hero."
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MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom