Heroin users in one northwestern Illinois county are finding an unusual ally when they’re ready to give up drugs…their local police.
Eleven people in Lee County have died over the past few years after using heroin. That motivated law enforcement officials in the area to try a different approach to combating the drug problem. It’s called Safe Passage: Dixon Police Chief Danny Langloss says a user can contact the police, turn over their drugs without fear of prosecution, and get placed in a drug treatment center. No waiting. 27 people have entered the program so far: Langloss says some have relapsed, but they’re sticking with them. He says, “when they walk in the doors for help, that’s the beginning. There really is no end. We’re there for those people.”
The “Safe Passage Initiative” couldn’t ask for a better volunteer than Alison White. The Dixon native has been heroin-free for four years, after spending her teen years as a heavy drug user with a lot of run-ins with the law. Now she helps others in her town get to treatment facilities up to three hours away, any time of day or night. White says it can be tough to ask for help in a small town, though it’s “not as shameful as it used to be, but still can be.” Her advice to users is to reach out for help because people are willing to help, including the police and volunteers like herself.
Getting heroin users into treatment before they run into problems with the law is just one aspect of the two-month old program. Lee County Sheriff John Simonton says people ready to get into treatment can turn in their drugs without fear of being charged with possession, and “that’s probably one of the most abnormal things from the law enforcement perspective. When you find drugs on somebody you know there’s going to be a follow-up charge. Not with this program. And that’s the safe part.”
Simonton says he’s noticed a ten to 15 percent reduction in the jail’s recidivism rate over the past few months. Senator Dick Durbin met with Langloss and Simonton to talk about the program, and says the two have “stuck their necks out” for a program that could reduce addiction and crime all over the state. Durbin says that’s admirable because it’s a big political risk in their positions to stray from the “lock ‘em up and throw away the key” stance against drugs.
The program is working because organizers found treatment centers around Illinois and in Florida that would take participants immediately, regardless of their ability to pay. Other suburban cities, like Elgin and Naperville, are developing their own versions of the Safe Passage Initiative, but may run into problems when it comes to funding.
