P.A.A.R.I.
Mission:
- To provide critical support, such as technical assistance, models, seed grants, recovery coaches, convenings, and other resources to law enforcement agencies to create and sustain programs that establish a non-arrest pathways to treatment and recovery
- To foster a dialogue about the unique position of law enforcement to address the opioid crisis, remove stigma, and reframe the conversation about addiction as a disease not a crime
- To educate lawmakers and influence state and national policy around treatment access
- To remove barriers to treatment on demand, including connections to treatment scholarships
- To build a law enforcement movement and network of like-minded law enforcement agencies that help people take their first steps on the path to treatment and recovery.
History:
For decades, municipal police officers have been on the front lines of the war on drugs. Until now, they have been solely called upon to attempt to disrupt an ever-increasing supply chain. That meant police officers often found themselves arresting drug addicts as much, if not more so, than drug dealers and traffickers. In most cases, the addicts were only guilty of possessing an illegal, life-ruining substance and they faced arrest, prosecution and prison terms. In the meantime, heroin and opioid addiction has become a severe public health concern in the United States, destroying and often ending lives.
In 2015, Gloucester, Massachusetts Police Chief Leonard Campanello developed a revolutionary new way to fight the war on drugs by doing something about the demand, not just the supply. Under his plan, drug addicts who ask the police department for help will be immediately be taken to a hospital and placed in a recovery program. No arrest. No jail.