News

By Rich Pollack

    Drug users who overdose and are rescued with the use of the medication naloxone may soon be getting long-term recovery help from an unexpected source — the Delray Beach Police Department.
    Police Chief Jeff Goldman, working in conjunction with the Delray Beach Drug Task Force, hopes to begin a pilot program this month in which the department connects overdose survivors with trained social-service advocates who can help get those who are willing back into recovery.
    “This is a recovery community but we don’t want it to be a relapse community,” Goldman said. “Our goal is to get these people help.”
    Initially, the pilot program will use social workers and addiction professionals provided on a volunteer basis by members of the drug task force, which includes several recovery-related professional and nonprofit organizations.
    Goldman hopes to eventually create a full-time paid special population advocate position within the department, with a scope that would include working on reducing relapses among drug users hospitalized as a result of overdoses.
    “My goal is to hire someone to work for the Police Department,” he said, adding that the individual would also be available to assist other groups, including the homeless and those suffering from mental illness.
    To help cover the costs, the Police Department is teaming up with the drug task force in search of available grants that could be used to defray some expenses.
    “Our job is to ensure public safety,” Goldman said. “It goes beyond putting bad people in jail. If we’re able to get these people into recovery and reduce the number of relapses, then we’re assuring a better quality of life for all in our community.”
    Goldman said his department is using a three-pronged approach locally to address the national heroin epidemic, which he says is responsible for about 30 overdoses a month in Delray Beach. That approach includes education, enforcement and lifesaving techniques, such as the use of naloxone.
    Law enforcement tools, including arrests of chronic offenders, will be used in cases where individuals don’t seek help getting into recovery, the chief said.
    “The No. 1 reason we’re doing this is because it’s a concern to our community,” he said.
    While details of the process are still being worked out, Goldman says the volunteers and eventually the advocate would probably be introduced to individuals recovering from an overdose by an officer or investigator gathering follow-up information.  Currently, the department contacts those treated with naloxone by either police or paramedics to gather information that can be used in a criminal investigation.
    Last month, the Delray Beach Police Department became only the second law enforcement agency in the state to train officers on how to use naloxone to revive those overdosing on heroin or other opioids.
    Officers administered naloxone seven times in the first 15 days of March, while paramedics administered the drug 44 times through March 24.
    Suzanne Spencer, executive director of the Delray Beach Drug Task Force, sees the pilot program as an important next step in helping those who are revived after an overdose.
    “We have a responsibility to look beyond just handling a crisis,” she said. “You have to look deeper into where the problems are coming from. This is a longer term intervention that can help to break the cycle of addiction.”