North Carolina Police Chief Implores Officers To Stop Arresting Addicts

In a sharp turn away from the War on Drugs, the chief of police in Nashville, North Carolina announced in February that drug addicts in the small town would be taken to rehabilitation centers instead of jail. Now, in response to a growing opioid crisis, the chief is calling on other law enforcement officers across the state to do the same.

Three months ago, following an “alarming” spate of prescription drug overdoses in Nash County, Thomas Bashore of the Nashville Police Department unveiled the HOPE Initiative to help addicts find treatment and divert them away from the criminal justice system. In lieu of arresting and imprisoning addicts, the initiative encourages them to go the department voluntarily and meet with a community volunteer who can connect them to counseling and treatment facilities. Addicts who have drugs or paraphernalia when they enter the department aren’t penalized.

During the Law Enforcement and Community Summit on Heroin last Thursday, Bashore appealed to officers to implement similar rehabilitative policies in departments throughout the state, in order to combat the ballooning opioid epidemic....
http://thinkprogress.org/justice/2016/05/16/3778547/north-carolina-police-chief-combats-drug-addiction/