Police departments rethink approach to battling addiction crisis

addiction recovery ebulletin police battle drug crisis

Socratic rap, not a rap sheet –

June 21, 2019 – That conversation convinced him to go get treatment for his addiction, he said. Now almost four years into his recovery, he walks the streets he once sat on, working with the Boston Police to reach out to people whose shoes he was once in. “It gives them hope to lead them to believe that they could do the same thing,” Perryman said.

As the addiction epidemic across the country continues to break records, police departments are rethinking their approach to how they interact with people with substance abuse disorder. Instead of arresting them, they are urging them to get treatment and helping them get into recovery.

One such effort is the Police Assisted Addiction and Recovery Initiative’s Recovery Corp program. It is an AmeriCorp-affiliated program that is placing volunteers like Tyshaun in police departments across the country as a resource for their communities.