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- Title
Changing Police Roles in Response to the Opioid Epidemic: Massachusetts Departments as a Model for the Country.
- Authors
Donohue Jr., Richard H.
- Abstract
The strategies developed over the past four decades to combat the "war on drugs" are no longer viable due to the lethality of opioid use and changes in community attitudes. The rapid, statewide effects of opioid abuse in Massachusetts have necessitated new approaches to dealing with persons with opioid use disorders (OUDs). This study reviews two major steps taken by police departments in the state wherein officers must act in a nontraditional, non-law enforcement role. The first is the response to opioid overdoses by using naloxone to save lives. This is working, but the opioid epidemic requires secondary care. Police leaders in the state have changed many of their approaches in order to involve the community and create options other than arrest. The use of referral programs involving community partners and treatment facilities is a positive step in building trust and providing help to people with OUDs. The steps taken thus far in Massachusetts represent positive movement in preserving lives and providing measures to combat the root measures of OUDs and provide a model for nationwide adoption.
- Subjects
DRUG control; OPIOID abuse; LAW enforcement; DRUG overdose; MASSACHUSETTS. Dept. of Public Safety
- Publication
Law Enforcement Executive Forum, 2018, Vol 18, Issue 4, p26
- ISSN
1552-9908
- Publication type
Article
- DOI
10.19151/leef.2018.1804.d