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Gloucester’s ‘Angel’ Addiction Recovery Program

Posted in Addictions, News, Recovery on Jun 23, 2015

In recent news, police have been making moves to help drug addicts in recovery, rather than punishing them. One specific town that is paving the way for other police stations to do the same, is Gloucester with their “Angel” program. As of late, the small town has found itself dealing with an overwhelming amount of heroin and opioid overdoses, causing officials like Congressman Seth Moulton and Chief Leonard Campanello to come up with ways that they can assuage the issue of arresting addicted citizens, rather than helping them with admittance to an addiction recovery program.

After a trip to Washington with the attempt to collect funds in order to kick start the program, Congressman Moulton announced that, “this is not a Democrat or Republican problem. It is a serious national problem that is only getting worse. Chief Campanello is bringing forward a different approach. I can tell you there is a great deal of interest in what he is doing. I enjoyed meeting with him in Washington D.C. and look forward to continuing to partner with him in the future.”

Regarding the Angel program, Congressman Moulton suggests approaching the program using guidelines; such as: giving addicts who surrender drugs immediate help with detox and recovery sans any legal action, giving nasal naloxone to addicts, families and caregivers in order to prevent overdose death, and offering addicts who are caught with narcotics the option to evade any criminal record by enrolling in and successfully finishing an addiction recovery program.

Chief Campanello announced in a press release that, “I am extremely encouraged by the outpouring of support that we have received, not only for Gloucester, but for the state as a whole, in taking the underlying principles to heart that drug addiction is a disease and police departments can take a more active role in reducing the demand for drugs, not just the supply.” Needless to say, Gloucester is leading the way in making strides towards battling the national drug problem with treatment for those who need it.