Part of a $2.5 million state grant to combat heroin and opioid abuse will certainly fund the new, 42-bed detoxification unit for addicts that opened late last year at the county jail in Middleton.
The grant money, released to district attorneys, sheriff’s departments and state police, is earmarked to “strengthen and enhance” ongoing efforts to combat epidemic-degree opioid abuse across the state.
In 2015 there were 164 heroin- and opiate-related overdose deaths in Essex County — a 19-individual boost from 2014.
“These grants give yet an additional device for us to start bending the trend of overdoses and deaths as we combat this epidemic,” said Gov. Charlie Baker in a statement released Monday.
“Law enforcement is on the front lines of the opioid crisis and it’s incumbent on us to give them along with every resource to save lives,” Baker said.
The Essex County Sheriff’s Department, led by Sheriff Frank Cousins, was awarded $157,134 of the $2.5 million grant pool.
Essex County District Attorney Jonathan Blodgett’s office was offered $145,743, according to Baker’s release.
Blodgett’s office will certainly usage its share of the grant your hard earned cash to hire a supervisor and peer mentor in the drug diversion regimen at Lawrence District Court and sponsor a collection of events to boost awareness of the connection between prescription drug abuse and heroin.
In the grant application, Blodgett’s office proposed a county-wide initiative “to educate youth and the community and to intervene along with drug addicted offenders.” He noted that the county “is experiencing a grave opioid addiction epidemic.”
The Sheriff’s Department’s share of the grant your hard earned cash will certainly be used to operate Middleton Jail’s detoxification unit, which opened Dec. 7.
The unit is divide from the normal prison population and provides addiction treatment for non-violent offenders that have actually yet to be sentenced.
Participants in the unit ought to go prior to a judge and agree to enroll in the 28-day program.
Rather compared to sending addicts to jail and leaving them to fend for themselves as soon as they are released, the jail’s detox unit is made to manage the addiction and arrange a lasting care strategy to prevent further jail time.
Previously, Cousins said he believed providing a lot more treatment beds for addicts was the just means to counteract the burgeoning heroin and opioid epidemic.
The competitive grant opportunity allows eligible state and county criminal justice agencies to obtain your hard earned cash aimed at “prevention, intervention, diversion, enforcement, and treatment,” according to Baker’s release.
The grant awards complement Baker’s Opioid Task Force help by expanding access to medical treatment, creating a youth drug prevention curriculum, boost treatment beds and creating a public awareness campaign.
Dan Bennett, the state’s secretary of Public Safety and Security, said the law enforcement leaders that received the grants were chosen for the “innovative approaches they recommend, for their compassion, and for their commitment to addressing the devastating effects of the addiction crisis that has actually ruined and taken so several lives.”
Follow staff reporter Jill Harmacinski on Twitter @EagleTribJill.
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