Pubdate: Thu, 24 Dec 2015
Source: Baltimore Sun (MD)
Copyright: 2015 The Baltimore Sun Company
Contact:  http://www.baltimoresun.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/37
Author: Catherine Rentz

A NEW TACK ON DRUG ABUSE

City Police to Offer Aid, Not Arrest, for Low-Level Offenders

The Baltimore Police Department, working with a local nonprofit 
organization, is planning an experimental program that would divert 
low-level drug offenders to treatment and support services while 
allowing them to avoid arrest.

The program, known as Law Enforcement Assisted Diversion, is part of 
a shift in Maryland and across the nation from the arrest-and-convict 
strategy that has dominated drug policies for a half-century.

"Criminalizing individuals with addiction is not the answer," said 
Dr. Leana Wen, Baltimore's health commissioner, who is working with 
police on the new program. "We must treat addiction as a disease and 
not a crime or a moral failing. LEAD is an innovative, evidence-based 
strategy that diverts people with addiction away from arrest and 
incarceration and instead gives them the medical treatment they need."

The program is similar to alternatives, including drug court, that 
offer treatment instead of jail sentences to abusers. Offenders will 
get a chance to sidestep an arrest record that could harm their 
chances of obtaining jobs, housing and education.

"What is unusual about this program is there is no arrest at all," 
said Diana Morris, the director at Open Society InstituteBaltimore, 
which is funding it. "That's important because it allows those who 
have addiction problems to not have the arrest on their record or go 
through the revolving door of the criminal justice system."

Heroin has created a thriving subeconomy in Baltimore where there are 
an estimated 19,000 users and annual spending on the drug is 
estimated to be least $165 million, The Baltimore Sun has found.

Police also say heroin has been a factor in the city's high homicide 
rate. And overdoses have increased statewide, more than doubling 
since 2010. Last year, heroin claimed 578 lives in Maryland.

Treatment-focused themes have been emphasized in local and state 
heroin task force reports in recent months. Gov. Larry Hogan's task 
force called for more treatment for addicts while in prison, and 
after they are released - a time when they are particularly 
vulnerable to overdose.

"I think they've found jail doesn't help," said Sen. Katherine 
Klausmeier, a Baltimore County Democrat who served on Hogan's task 
force. "They come out worse than when they [went] in," she said, 
referring to both the accessibility of drugs in prison and the 
criminal record that often limits a successful re-entry into society.

Baltimore's drug economy - which includes at least 19,000 heroin 
addicts and casual users - has been a factor in the city's high 
homicide rate, police say. Meanwhile, heroin overdoses have increased 
statewide, more than doubling since 2010. Last year, heroin claimed 
578 lives in Maryland.

The local LEAD program is modeled after one that began in 2011 in 
Seattle, where authorities also have struggled to deal with the 
city's chronic drug problem.

Six months ago, Genesha Martin, chief of the community engagement 
division under then-Baltimore Police Commissioner Anthony W. Batts, 
visited the Seattle Police Department. It had been investigated by 
the U.S. Justice Department, which found a pattern of excessive force 
and evidence of biased policing that led to a consent decree.

"They were an example of a department that resisted in the 
beginning," Martin said, "But they worked with [the Justice 
Department] and are now touted as a police department with best practices."

By that time, the Justice Department had opened a similar 
investigation into Baltimore's Police Department in the aftermath of 
Freddie Gray's death. The 25-year-old West Baltimore man suffered a 
fatal spine injury while in police custody in April.

Martin was impressed by Seattle's LEAD program. "It made a huge 
difference in the downtown community," she said.

Martin said some Seattle officers were skeptical about the new 
approach. "It was mind-boggling for them to know [offenders] are 
doing something, but instead of arresting them, they would get them 
treatment," she said. Eventually, she said, officers came to support 
the program.

Offenders in the program were 60 percent less likely to commit 
another offense than a group that went through the usual system, 
according to a University of Washington study published in March.

Martin attended a seminar about LEAD at the White House with 
then-Deputy Commissioner Kevin Davis and officials from more than 30 
localities. At least eight other cities are running or in the process 
of launching the program, including Santa Fe, N.M.; Bangor, Maine; 
Los Angeles; Atlanta and Philadelphia. Davis, who replaced Batts as 
commissioner in July, also came away energized about the program.

"One of the things we want to achieve is how [Baltimore residents] 
look at a uniform," said Martin, who oversees compliance with the 
ongoing Justice Department investigation. "We want [a resident] to 
look at us as someone who will help me, who will make me feel safe."

The program, scheduled to begin in early 2016, will be funded by a 
$200,000 grant from the Open Society Institute-Baltimore that will 
pay for staffing, evaluation, screening and equipment over the next 
year. The logistics of the program are still being worked out, but 
Martin said it will be modeled after the Seattle program.

There, officers divert low-level drug and prostitution offenders with 
substance abuse problems into community-based treatment and services 
such as housing, job training and mental health support.

Offenders sign an agreement with the prosecutor's office to get help 
and achieve certain goals. If they fail, an arrest warrant is issued 
and they are charged with the original offense, said Patrick Michaud, 
a spokesman for the Seattle police.

"This is for people who need it and are crying out for help," Michaud 
said. "This is a carrot to motivate yourself to move forward. If that 
doesn't work out, the criminal justice system is there for you."

He said the program is restricted to nonviolent offenders and 
excludes those involved in more serious offenses, such as dealing drugs.

Local partners in Baltimore include Behavioral Health System 
Baltimore and the state's attorney's office.

"I applaud the Baltimore Police Department's efforts to divert 
individuals and direct them to the resources they need to address the 
underlying reasons why they are committing crimes," said State's 
Attorney Marilyn J. Mosby.

Morris said the LEAD program is one of several initiatives that could 
drive down incarceration rates and drug addiction across the nation. 
"We've gotten ourselves into a real mess," she said. "Everybody now 
knows we can't arrest our way out of it."

Wen and Del. Dan Morhaim, both emergency room physicians, said they 
see patients suffering from heroin and opioid misuse on a daily basis 
and agree that arresting abusers is not the solution.

Morhaim, a Baltimore County Democrat, is considering proposing 
legislation in the coming General Assembly session that would go a 
step further than a program such as LEAD. He wants to eliminate the 
economic incentives of the drug economy and help offenders stay off 
the streets in the first place.

"We have to start thinking of ways to get money out of the trade," he 
said. Morhaim points to European programs in which substance abusers 
can go into special facilities for free use or treatment - thus 
reducing the need to steal or commit other crimes to obtain money for drugs.

Though the city and state heroin task forces focused on treatment and 
other support-related solutions, the tough-oncrime strategy still has 
allure. The report issued by Hogan's task force this month called for 
stiffer penalties for anyone who sold heroin that resulted in an overdose.

"Someone has to take responsibility," said Lt. Gov. Boyd K. 
Rutherford, who chaired the task force.

He said the recommendation to pass a state racketeering law would 
help prosecutors punish major suppliers.
- ---
MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom