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Cops Around The Country Quietly Begin Rebelling Against The Drug War
Submitted by Carey Wedler via TheAntiMedia.org,
It is a rare occurrence when police officers in America organize to undermine the very Drug War they vociferously fight for politicians. Police Chief Leonard Campanello of the Gloucester, Massachusetts Police Department, however, did just that earlier this year when he decided to treat — not arrest — heroin addicts who came to his department seeking help. His revolutionary “ANGEL” program has proven successful for addicts and their families in Gloucester, but it has also inspired other departments across the country to adopt similar programs amid growing officer fatigue over the ineffectual arrest and incarceration of addicts.
In May, Campanello announced via Facebook that his department would adopt the new policy of treatment over arrest (note: it does not apply to individuals caught in possession of drugs who do not turn themselves in). The move was met with widespread praise and the new policy was officially enacted in June. Treatment centers and pharmacies have partnered with the police department to ensure addicts receive the care they need.
As the police department’s website explains:
“If an addict comes into the Gloucester Police Department and asks for help, an officer will take them to the Addison Gilbert Hospital, where they will be paired with a volunteer ‘ANGEL’ who will help guide them through the process. We have partnered with more than a dozen additional treatment centers to ensure that our patients receive the care and treatment they deserve — not in days or weeks, but immediately.
“If you have drugs or drug paraphernalia on you, we will dispose of it for you. You will not be arrested. You will not be charged with a crime. You will not be jailed.
“All you have to do is come to the police station and ask for help. We are here to do just that.”
Five months since the program launched, Campanello reports positive results: over 260 addicts have been placed in treatment. This summer, shoplifting, breaking and entering, and larceny dropped 23% from the same period last year. “We are seeing real people get the lives back,” he said. “And if we see a reduction in crime and cost savings that is a great bonus.”
Other police officers are following suit. John Rosenthal is the co-founder of Police Assisted Addiction and Recovery Initiative, a nonprofit that helps police departments around the country adopt programs similar to Gloucester’s. Rosenthal says almost 40 departments in nine states (Connecticut, Ohio, Florida, Illinois, Maine, Missouri, New York, Pennsylvania, and Vermont) have adopted at least some aspects of the program, and 90 more departments want to get involved.
Though the specifics of the programs vary, they all aim to treat addicts. Police are even participating through Veterans Affairs, as opiate addiction is high among veterans.
The program, which Campanello has funded with money seized during drug arrests, has been well-received by departments that implement similar strategies. John Gill, a police officer in Scarborough, Maine, said his local police station saw a “profound” change. He credits Gloucester with the courage to go through with it:
“It was the Gloucester ANGEL project which showed us that a relatively modest-sized police agency could have a real impact. And like Gloucester, we couldn’t afford to wait until the perfect solution came along.”
Opiate addiction has skyrocketed in the United States in recent years. In 2013, 517,000 were abusing heroin — a 150% increase from 2007 — and deaths due to heroin tripled in that same period of time. Addiction has spiked across multiple demographics, though 90% of first-time users are white. Fully 75% of new heroin addicts previously used prescription drugs, implicating the legal drug industry, as well. This epidemic has prompted action by various government entities: from the DEA’s crackdown on pharmaceutical over-prescription to President Obama’s recently announced plan to reduce addiction and improve access to treatment. Though the president commuted the sentences of 46 drug offenders over the summer, 48.4% of the prison population is incarcerated for narcotics offenses — proving the Drug War is still very much in effect.
So far, it appears the most expedient method to reduce drug arrests and improve treatment options comes from officers employing ANGEL-like policies on the ground.
“We’re absolutely, unequivocally thrilled by the reception of this program by law enforcement,” said Rosenthal. “Police chiefs are recognizing we can’t arrest our way out of this, that this is a disease and not a crime and that people suffering from this disease need treatment, not jail.”
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I've only had a few cop friends over the years, but every one smoked pot at some point in their lives. It's about time they stopped busting people for doing what they did. Obama, Bush, Clinton, and probably far back beyond that are perfect examples of hypocricy enforcing laws they violated without consequence.
uncovered vid of cops smoking mountains of pot
Can't believe I'm agreeing with ya.
Sometimes "just doing your job" when you know it's wrong entails just looking the other way, even at the cost of knowingly aiding & abetting "a crime".
Law stuff...lol ;-)
Once the cops do the same with the phony domestic violence laws (war on Men), I will cheer.
Mrs. Eat Rand is a guardian ad litem volunteer. She sees this shit all the time. In Florida, the cops literally MUST arrest someone if there is violence. Usually the fight is a fucked up couple who are hitting each other, and the cops arrest the guy. So, I agree to that exent.
You are aware that police officers don't actually legislate or enact laws, right? They are only the arm.
I agree, men are assumed as guilty.
My ass. Pick up the paycheck and say yessir.!
Police know how the drug war is not being won. When they speak up it makes a difference.
In Washington state some police endorsed the legalize marijuana law. The bill passed. Now the state pulls in lots of money by taxing sales of pot and saves a bundle by not arresting people. The sheer size of the market surprised the state officials. Getting it out in the open probably forced lots of criminals to find other work. Seems like a very win-win move.Pot stores appeared in my small town but otherwise the town shows no signs of change.
That's bull. Cops are part of the executive branch and have a check and balance on the legislature. ie don't enforce the law. They have a choice and it's no wonder cities purposely keep the intelligence level of their enforcers low.
I think I know what this is about.
https://thinkpatriot.wordpress.com/2015/10/20/propaganda-example-of-the-...
Once you see the patterns, you see that an absolutely amazing about of reporting is driven by PR campaigns of one kind or another. Police chiefs have political groups that put out all kinds of press releases, available for local police chiefs to control their image.
Public has turned against the police state. This is the police appearing to lead the parade as they acquiesce to budget cuts from DHS.
One of my buddies in High School used to do lines of coke right out of his locker. He is now a Sheriff's Deputy, and he seriously thinks everybody is on drugs.
"It is difficult to get a man to understand something, when his salary depends on his not understanding it."
Upton Sinclair
Why do cops have locks on their lockers in the police station (and don't use that old joke about how lawyers have to walk through their locker room on the way to the courthouse)??
9000 hectares of opium poppies in Afghanistan would have nothing to do with the heroin problem in the US, Canada or former USSR countries. I was told they just planted them because they look so pretty in full bloom and it is just a program to attract more tourists.
Of course the tinfoil hat crowd would think it was just to fund black ops regime changes and keep the money off the books.
I was being sarcastic.
Heroin is a cash cow for the banking sectors. Period.
Right. There's almost no chance of this trend growing. Too much money would be lost.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/First_Opium_War
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Second_Opium_War
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/First_Anglo-Afghan_War
Al CIA-da needs to fund itself somehow.
One of the axes which Zero Hedge loves to grind, is the one about how the bankers all want to get rid of all cash and cash tansactions....but guess what? You can't buy heroin with a credit card! Cash is NOT going away anytime soon! Every evil thing under the sun has some benefit to somebody ....
Why not?? is there a "law" --no credit cards may be used to purchase drugs for fun????? Only scripts--duh? Ican't believe people put make believe limits on crime (evil benifits somebody) --what a bunch of crap.
Drug trade needs to be UNTRACEABLE.
Of course they can use other methods of payment. Got goldf?
How about the crack hoes? Will they still get arrested or just gently tossed around and "exorcised"?
http://www.thepornster.net/video/465/
And you're being absolutely correct. The CIA has been running a big chunk of the drug trade for years. It fueled the crack cocaine era in order to fund Iran/Contra. Of course some things just aren't talked about. Ask Barry Seal.
Barry is dead West.
The Taliban burned all Poppies when they were in control. As soon as the USA took back the region, MASSIVE planting/distilling/exporting of product began
Now all they have to do is to stop the Global Hawk delivery of drugs to the US bases in Europe.... and we might be onto something...
Finally, a positive, humane, community service inspired piece about our law enforcement...it's about time.
Yeah maybe. Or maybe its about time the brown shirts start realizing the damage they are doing to their own communities and for what? Oh right, unless it is them or their friends. I knew undercover narcs who brought home the "spoils of war" for friends and family. Fuck them!
the cops need to arrest the suppliers: CIA
They tried that in Dade County, Toronto, Fort McMurray, Seattle, San Fran, Edmonton, Calgary, Washington DC, Moscow, Kugistan, New York ect. ect..
I had nut bar that was working for me got busted for selling coke in Fort McMurray. Third time. No jail but a $20,000 dolllar fine to be paid in one month. He had already lost his job so how would you expect him to pay the fine?
" I gotta pay the brothers that busted me outa jail" he said along with the fine. The government, especialy in Canuckistan, makes a living off these losers. He went back to selling coke.
Are you back home in the good ole US of A now? Good. Stay there.
The war on drugs is ridiculous, there are better ways to bring in money. Decriminalize, collect taxes and use the money saved on pprison sentances for treatment. This will also take money away from crime syndicates and they will have to find something else to sell like stolen cheese wheels for instance. But, I guess why would we implement policy that is good for the people, that's just silly talk! The article is an overview of how decriminalization has been working out for Portugal.
http://mic.com/articles/110344/14-years-after-portugal-decriminalized-al...
Why don't you move to barefoot Portugal, if you think it's worked out so well over there. The U.S. is not Portugal.
Marijuana is clearly a narcotic drug. It's a narcotic drug because its users experience a narcotic high that they love. It's an otherworldly narcotic love, and nothing else.
Marijuana users are so daft they think marijuana cures everything from cancer to stupidity. They think marijuana makes them better drivers. Marijuana users think using marijuana makes them better people.
In fact, using marijuana just makes you another deluded pothead on dope.
Who stuck a corncob up your ass, and why are you here???
;-D
Now for a comment: There's no fucking way they are going to start playing nice. The "War on Drugs" is a major cash cow for the Criminal Industrial Complex. As long as Civil Asset Forfeiture and other such laws exist on the books TPTB will not allow the war to end... These programs are puff pieces to try to clean up the cop's tarnished image while they continue to use lethal force at every opportunity.
You can count the number of lawyers that have made it to heaven on one hand. The rest of the deceased are getting their just desserts...
;-D
In fact, using marijuana just makes you another deluded pothead on dope.
In fact, your statement makes you an enemy of our God given human rights of "Life, Liberty and the persuit of happiness"; Freedom to act in accordance with ones moral standards (as long as one does no harm to others).
Edit - Here, get your head straight.
I'll give you the benefit of the doubt and assume that everything you just said is correct. Even so, I have one question:
How does that guy over there being a pot head hurt you or me? Oh it doesn't?
Then get the fuck off your high horse.
"Why don't you move to barefoot Portugal, if you think it's worked out so well over there. "
No need as the Mexican Supreme court just ruled that outlawing the possession and use of the marijuana plant represents a violation of fundamental human rights!
Mexico’s Supreme Court rules that smoking pot is a fundamental human rightThe newly elected Canadian government is going to legalize marijuana.
WATCH: Trudeau wants to legalize potSo if you support prohibition - you're in the minority!
Another glittering jewel of colossal ignorance, you're certainly entitled to your definition of the word "narcotic" but the rest of the world defines it as an opiate, like heroin, morphine or cocaine...a substance that's physically addictive.
Pot isn't physically addicting. Period. End of story.
No more than sugar or coffee...or is your real intention to (at some point in the future) throw people in jail and seize their assets and/or property over consuming a cup of joe (that was once legal) in their house?
Pot not addicitive? You fucking moron. I've seen the results first hand. I spent $300,000 and broke my marriage getting a kid off that stuff. Ask the shrinks who have to treat the addicts.
I now also have a relative who is facing armed robbery charges from when he couldn't get his dope supply.
@Give up. Realit..
Marijuana is Not a Narcotic..do your home works first before you make a claim.!
The term narcotic: from ancient Greek , is "to make numb"
Cocaine and heroine are narcotics, when injected or smoked can be harmless to ones health.
Marijhuana (Cannabis) is a plant, when smoked it is harmless.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Narcotic
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cannabis_%28drug%29
It matter not what marijuana does.. or cocaine or heroine or opium.
The government has no constitutional right to make these things illegal, and on a philosophical basis no one has the right to tell me what I can do to my own body. Frankly I think that anyone that has a tattoo is a complete moron. It is my opinion and I will say it. I will however not forbid them to do what I consider a moronic act. Try to put a tattoo on me and I will fucking kill you. Try to shoot me up with heroin and I will fucking kill you.
Do it to yourself and I will just call you a moron and not associate with you.
well, then, just how long have you been smoking pot? rofl
Good reply but,
MOAR fucking taxes?
Enough with the fucking taxes...
When are the fucking people going to learn.?.
That kind of humanist approach has been known to cause a rapid spike in police chief suicide rates. The type where he shoots himself in the head 3 times like Pat Tillman. Risky.
Common Sense isn't it! An addict is only a danger when his drug is too expensive he can't get it without crime. Give them a choice, treatment without punishment. If they can't be treated, give them just enough to get by at cheap prices. In the UK many years ago, some Doctors were allowed to dispense heroin to patients who could not kick the habit, the doctor gave it out and monitored the dose. Addicts reported no need to be criminal and they could even hold a job, as long as their need was met, they threatened no one. Conservative governments attacked this treatment, and I think it went away in the 90's. I may be wrong, but I know in the 80's hard core addicts who saw a doctor could be put on low or moderate dose heroin and a low expense, and doctor kept tabs on them, including drug tests to check levels.
War on drugs is big business, take out the profits for drug lords, take out the employment for drug warriors. Treatment first, if that fails, legal cheap drugs monitored and taxed. Empty the prisons of substance users. Common sense.
If you are so holy you must insist drug use be a crime, fuck you! You probably used when you were young, we all did. Including present day cops.
In Canada Fentynal is killing off the Junkies like nothing before. If you think about it Fentynal is not something Joe Lunchpail makes in his backyard. Every packet has a serial number and lot number. The "first responder heroes" are, of course, stumped. All it takes is to phone Big Pharma to see where it comes from. When asked why they are not investigating the more than obvius paper trail the heroes said there were"privacy concerns". Why the fuck do we pay for these libtard clowns?
Fentanyl is actually crazy easy to make in a clandestine lab. A freind of mine made it. Unsurprisingly, he is now dead.
funny the number one killer of people 45-55 are drugs
Piss in a cup before you receive your monthly EBT allowance. That will keep them sober.
Agree, the "vorker bees" have to do it, why not the parasites who live on their wings? ;-)
I'm in if we make it, everyone who receives a govt check including the president, senators, reps, mayors, police chiefs, city coucil people, city employees etc etc etc.
Why would you want to keep them sober? Wouldn't they be more passive and easier to control while using?
Oh, and this drug testing costs money. And when 7 states tried it, 6 of them found a usage rate of 1 percent or less, below that of the general population. Maybe because these people don't have a lot of cash for recreational purposes.
http://thinkprogress.org/economy/2015/02/26/3624447/tanf-drug-testing-st...
Not all drugs dull your mind like alcohol. I think you equate passive with peaceful, which are not the same thing.
Many drugs actually help you make connections and expand your thinking. That is why the govt wants to keep drugs away from the majority of people. It's a simple equation, restrict the supply and demonize users = a culled society.
What are doing about decent jobs?
FORWARD SOVIET!
Yeah, what about that labor participation rate...Forward Soviet! ;-)
From a small stream comes a river.
Too late.
You cherry-picked a few jurisdictions to make some sort of statement about law enforcement attitudes towards illegal drugs. This is wishful thinking at its worst. It doesn't matter what you or I think. Reason, logic, common sense, emperical evidence. It. Doesn't. Matter.
I've worked with American cops: locals, feds, staties. American cops love the drug war. Let me repeat that. They fucking LOVE IT. Four generations of American cops have been conditioned to view drug offenders as immoral lowlife scum. They love the fact that drug searches have basically rendered the 4th Amendment into absolute meaninglessness. American cops love transforming simple traffic infractions into major drug busts. They fucking LOVE the fact they can do "plain sight" searches; they love "gotyas," seeing "drug paraphernalia" that gives them "reasonable suspicion" to toss your shit and nail the next Pablo Escobar to the wall. They love no-knock raids; M4s and M16s and armored vehicles and bigger and badder body armor and looking all warriored out to the fucking max to come and stomp some druggie ass at oh-dark-hundred. You think America's astronomic incarceration rates are accidental? 70% nonviolent drug offenses homeboy. Meaning... if this were Holland, nearly 70% of current "criminals" wouldn't ever have been incarcerated. All those non violent drug offenders roam the streets of Holland. You think Holland is going through a zombie apocalypse because some potheads aren't in jail? It's one of the wealthiest countries in Europe. Get fucking real. Well, you know that, and I know that... but American cops and politicians and the scared-to-shit middle class don't know shit and don't give a shit.
Anyhow, that's over there, this is here. American cops LOVE their fucking drug war, and theyr'e never going to let go of it. Ever. Think of the major financial consequences that shit has on departments all over the country making drug seizures and asset forfeitures based on "drug related" activities.
Seriously bro. Wake. The. Fuck. Up. American cops LOVE their drug war.
Dr. Bonzo
u r absolutely correct.
And not just the cops. The CIA, the prison industry, coke-sniffing "tough-on-crime" politicians and preachers, money-laundering banksters, and all those who profit by alliances with corrupted governments and drug lords, from Kosovo to Afghanistan to Colombia.
And if all the addicts and street dealers were "rehabilitated", what jobs will be available for them?
Drugs have long been used to subdues and further debilitate a population.
In Brave New World, it was fictionalized as 'Soma'. But in reality it has been employed regularly, from 'firewater' against the native Americans, to forcing opium onto China.
Of interest is the fact that many seamlessly transition from legal pharmaceuticals to 'illegal' ones.
Indeed, it is not simply a legal problem, nor will it be fixed by legalizing some drugs, although that COULD be a start. The problems of an alienated population in a corrupt and exploitative system go deeper.
I call this story, the complete horseshit it is. Nowhere has rehab worked for the opioid addiction population. Once a junkie, always a junkie. End of story. You won't have anyone come here on ZH and say, "I was a heroin addict, and rehab cured me, I no longer use heroin." That's 100% pure bullshit. If someone did say that, they'd be lying.
Drug addicts turn themselves in for treatment when they have hit rock bottom. They're literally going to die because they cannot come up with the money to buy the drugs that will alleviate their withdrawal symptoms. They are freaking out the same way someone freaks out if you put your hand over their mouth and nose, preventing them from breathing.
This story is just another story about giving drug addicts, their drugs, paid for by the government, and calling this idiocy a rehabilitation success. Nothing could be further from the truth. Once someone is a heroin addict, they are going to die a heroin addict. There is no cure. There is no possible cure. There is no such thing as a rehabilitation success.
Once the "recovering" addict has pulled themselves back together on Suboxone, Buprenorphine or plain old Methadone they're back on the street looking to score more heroin. They're looking to score heroin, because their craving for the opioid high is insatiable. The only way to stop heroin use is to eradicate the supply of heroin in the community. So get over the rehab fantasy.
The historical cure for heroin addiction in the Far East is this; the army arrives in a town, they round up all the heroin addicts, tying their hands behind their backs and blindfolding them, they march them all off to a place where there is a pre-dug ditch, they line them all up, they then shoot each addict in the head, push them into the ditch, and bury them with a tractor or by hand depending on the wealth of the community. Problem solved.
Anyone who thinks there is some other way to deal with an out-of-control heroin problem is fooling themselves and ONLY going to make the problem, that much worse again.
Rehabilitation is a pharmaceutical industry scam. Heroin addiction is the real deal. And the day the FDA approved all the synthetic heroin compounds beginning with Oxycontin, they guaranteed the pharmaceutical companies literally trillions in profits derived from creating opioid addicts in the U.S. and treating them in rehab. There is no bigger scam imaginable.
Those people who fall for this trillion dollar "rehab" scam are only being used as pawns by Big Pharma to further their rapacious greed.
Let me explain something. The first time someone main-lines heroin, someone has to help them, because main-lining is neither easy, nor intuitive. That person helping someone main-line heroin for the first time, is all too often someone who has gone through rehab and has been let loose back out on the streets. That's what rehab promotes, more heroin addicts.
Rehab is where herion addicts meet other heroin addicts, and other drug users that are ripe for heroin enslavement.
And drug users as a group, from potheads to junkies, they're all the same crowd. Look at the potheads who have posted comments here defending their junkie friends, and trying to rationalize this insanity saying they know cops who smoke pot. Holy shit, what idiocy.
DOPE IS FOR DUMMIES!
Soberting post GuR... 180 degrees away from my worldview... I hope what you write is nonsense, but my gut tells me it's not. The analogy you used to describe withdrawl symptons using the analogy to suffocation is something I won't forget. I added your comment to a file I keep with ZH material that are significant to me.
Rehab does
not "work" very well because it isn't just an individual problem
as you suggest.
Jailing all the people who presently use legal drugs and alcohol,
(giving them criminal records), and then "rehabilitating" them
jobless back into the system wouldn't work well either.
Yes, many are habituated and socialized in destructive ways,
but that too is not just an individual problem of having chosen to be born in the wrong place.
Bottm line -
Prohibition doesn't work and that's the one "easy" on/off switch a society has...it's legal or illegal, your choice.
After that, as far as the problems drugs caause, you pays you money, you takes your choice. You fuck up, you solve your own problems.
So if drug addiction is a incurable chronic illness which can be costly to treat and manage we should just shoot everyone who has it?
Hell let's shoot everyone else with a chronic disease while we are at it.
Let's shoot everyone with HIV/AIDS. That shit is expenisve to treat and there is the potential that they might spread the disease to others. They must have had unprotected sex and brought it on themselves....to the firing range.
Line up all the Type 2 diabetics while we are at it. Fuckers ate too much sugar and cheap carb crap. Yeah, some of them may have had a strong family history for the disease, but they should have known better. Should have lived on fish and celery all their life. Load those rifles baby.
I'm healthy and lucky. Fuck everyone else.
"And drug users as a group, from potheads to junkies, they're all the same crowd."
You are a moron.
FWIW, the relapse rate among addicted Vietnam vets who had been detoxified before returning home was low. (Google for "addicted Vietnam vets" to see articles on this. Or see http://www.npr.org/sections/health-shots/2012/01/02/144431794/what-vietn...) But this group was not a typical group of addicts.
trump is on tv tonight, cool
Reads like socialist utopia. Get hooked on drugs and cops will hug you better.
And if you act now, there's a free skittle shitting unicorn in it for you.
Now, if they could be persuaded to leave their guns at the station...........
Taking someone who has a family, a job and a drug problem and sending him to jail solves no problems but creates several more. Getting him past his drug problem IS the solution. Besides, corpus delicti and mens rea are absent from any victimless crime. The State putting anyone in jail without these required components IS the crime.
There was never a war on drugs. It can be stopped but you can't do it half assed.
The government can not enforce laws that everyone ignores. Immigration (the illegals that sneak into the country + the people who employ them+the slumlords that rent to them), the drug war (the entire poplulation), and now the enforcement of drug laws by the people hired to execute and enforce the laws. Freewill is a bitch for the fascist.
Now, if we could only prohibit police departments from hiring aggressive steroid-heads, former bodybuilders, and current steroid users.
http://www.nj.com/news/index.ssf/2010/12/hundreds_of_nj_police_firefigh....
Government resources going to treat people who need help. This is un-American.
You notice in the article it said there using drug and asset forfeitures to apply the new program.They will justify now to keep taking people personal property to apply there criminal enterprise going.Time legalize all drugs.
The alternative press needs to drive this story viral. It's a good antidote to all the jackbooted thug police who keep beating people and shooting them in the back.
I was just about to jump when i read this, smells like common sense.