Can a small town win the war on opioid addiction?
Across America, small towns like ours are struggling to come to grips with an ongoing surge in the abuse of highly-addictive prescription painkillers. This abuse often leads the user down a dark path toward heroin use and to the crimes that are often committed to feed the drug abuser’s addiction. Nearly half of all young people who inject heroin reported abusing prescription opioids before starting to use heroin. In Middle Township, the introduction of the drug fentanyl (a powerful, fast acting and highly addictive opioid) into this toxic brew has only worsened the problems and lead to more frequent and severe overdoses from heroin laced with this drug.
In 2014, the Middle Township Police Department, aided by a grant from the Cape May County Prosecutor’s Office, began to carry Narcan, an emergency treatment for heroin overdoses. The good news is Narcan saves lives. The bad news is the use of Narcan by our police officers has risen dramatically. In 2014, the MTPD used Narcan four times, in 2015, 13 times, in 2016, 26 times, and in the first eight months of 2017, 20 times. These disturbing numbers are sadly indicative of the increase in both the use and potency of the heroin infiltrating our community.
The drug problem we face in Middle Township is a human tragedy and a war that must be fought on many fronts. In my six years on Township Committee, three of which were spent as the Public Safety Director, I have advocated for a multifaceted approach to dealing with a multifaceted problem. The societal problems that lead folks down the road to addiction are many and complicated. Over the past few years, the MTPD, partnering with many state, county, nonprofit and faith-based organizations, has developed a three prong approach to fighting drug abuse in our community.
ENFORCEMENT
You can’t fight a battle without resources. When I came into office, the MTPD was understaffed and the Street Crimes Unit had been disbanded. We committed to increasing the number of officers from 44 to 53, and we have reached that goal. This increased staffing has allowed us to reconstitute the Street Crimes Unit on a permanent basis. At the same time, we have opened a new police substation in Rio Grande. This higher visibility and more proactive approach has led to a significant decrease in major crimes in our most troubled communities. We have invested in bike patrols, improved street lighting and passed stronger regulations on the voucher motels in Rio Grande. As Chief Leusner often says, we can’t arrest our way out of the drug problem, but enforcement is a key component in this daily battle. Drug dealers must be on notice that we won’t let it be easy for them to do business in our town.
INTERVENTION
Studies show that most people who get hooked on drugs begin that journey in their late teens or early twenties. Therefore, it is critical to any anti-addiction effort that we keep drugs away from young adults, and offer them alternate paths towards a more hopeful future. An important first step is to get the drugs that lead to addiction out of our homes. Operation Medicine Drop provides an easy and safe method of disposal for unused narcotics that might tempt a teenager in your home to try drugs, or offer an easy opportunity for an addict to steal the drugs they crave. Residents can bring used prescriptions to the MTPD lobby and place them in the medicine drop container. They will then be safely destroyed. If you have unused opioids in your home, get rid of them now! You may save a life and spare a family the pain and suffering of watching a love one succumb to the helpless horror of addiction.
In the fall of 2014, Middle Township became just the second town in New Jersey to introduce a Public Advocate in our Municipal Court. The role of the Public Advocate is to meet with first-time drug offenders and offer them a path away from the criminal justice system and into a treatment program. The participants are given the opportunity to avoid a criminal record by meeting the requirements of the treatment plan. By successfully completing the program, these folks are headed away from drug addiction and can avoid a criminal record. In the early months of the Public Advocate, 18 offenders were steered into the program. In 2015 that number rose to 78, and participation has continued to increase. The Public Advocate Program helps to break the cycle of drug use that leads to petty crime, which then leads to more drug abuse and more serious crime. The answer to addiction is treatment, not incarceration.
EDUCATION
We were all teenagers once. We understand the perils of peer pressure and the hunger of our kids to be accepted by their peers. Too often this socialization is enabled by underage drinking and experimentation with gateway drugs like marijuana and pain killers. To combat these negative influences on our children, we need to educate them and their families on the perils of addiction and the all too often tragic consequences of drug abuse.
In Middle Township, we focus on community policing. Our officers are in our schools and interacting with our youth in a positive way. In the both the fifth and seventh grades, students take part in our LEAD program (Law Enforcement Against Drugs). This fast-paced, interactive program educates student through a positive approach, stressing healthy alternatives to alcohol and drugs, and providing important information for students to share with their caregivers about the warning signs of drug use and the steps to take to remove any dangerous drugs from their homes. In 2017, the MTPD launched a new anti-addiction program for 11th graders called ‘Not Even Once.’ The program emphasizes the dangerously addictive nature of opioids, and that experimentation with drugs can often lead down a slippery slope towards a drug habit that can be nearly impossible to kick.
In addition to the programs offered locally, the Cape May County Prosecutor’s Office offers its ‘Pills to Heroin’ program in our schools and online for access by community organizations.
Taken singularly, none of these steps are going to solve the drug problem. But together, they give us a fighting chance. Along with these programs, Middle Township is partnering with Cape Assist, The Lighthouse Church, and several other local nonprofits and faith-based organizations to offer as many avenues to recovery and support as we can find. If you have a child or family member caught in the throes of addiction, don’t give up. There is help available. There are many success stories.
I’ve often said that my job as an elected official is to bring good people together to do good work. Nowhere is this approach more important than in our hometown’s struggle to pushback against this epidemic of addiction. Are we winning the battle? No, not yet. But we are fighting hard and will continue to seek every available avenue to support treatment and recovery for those suffering from addiction and their families. Just as importantly, we are committed to aggressively combating the crime surrounding the drug trade and the prosecution of drug dealers to the fullest extent of the law.
What do you think? Are their programs out there we are not using that could help? Do you need more information to help yourself or a family member?
Learn more at ‘Tim Donohue for Middle Township’ on Facebook or email Tim Donohue at donohueformiddle@gmail.com.
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