The West Orange Police Department plans to be the first in the state to rollout the program that would let drug abusers seeking help turn in their substances and paraphernalia. Watch video
A proposed law would allow addicts to trade drugs for counseling. (File photo)WEST ORANGE -- Police departments across the state may soon be given the all clear to create a new anti-drug program aimed at keeping addicts out of incarceration, and giving them hope for recovery.
Pending a full Assembly vote Monday, and later consideration by the state Senate and Gov. Chris Christie, a new bill would let local police departments establish programs that allow substance abusers to turn in their heroin, opiates, needles and other paraphernalia without being arrested.
The bill, officials said, was put together after West Orange Police Chief James Abbott said his department was creating one of these programs, which the township is calling Operation HOPE (Heroin - Opiate Prevention Effort).
Once an abuser comes to the West Orange police, the department will pair that person with a volunteer "Angel" who will guide him or her through recovery, officials said. Marc Ackerman, director of admissions for the Integrity House, said his treatment facility will help place individuals in various programs, whether it be at the Integrity House or elsewhere.
"You can't arrest your way out of this issue," Ackerman said.
Herointown, N.J.: The dead, 5,217 and counting
Abbott said he hopes to rollout the initiative in West Orange, approved June 14 by the town council, by Oct. 1.
"We are trying to help people rather than incarcerate them for something that is somewhat outside their control," Abbott said, mentioning that the war on drugs was "kind of a failed effort."
The bill that would allow programs such as this statewide, sponsored by Assembly Democrats John McKeon, Valerie Vainieri Huttle, Ralph Caputo and Mila Jasey, is number 3744 in the Assembly and 2330 in the Senate.
McKeon, who served as the township's mayor from 1998 to 2010, said New Jersey's overdose rate is three times the national one, noting that overdoses kill twice as many in the state as car crashes.
From 2004 to 2014, Essex County accounted for the second most heroin-related deaths in the state at 11 percent, just behind Camden County at 11.6, according to an NJ Advance Media report in December. In the same time period, the number of those ages 30 and younger who died from heroin in the Garden State increased, jumping from 91 in 2004 to 219 in 2014.
"Cleary, more needs to be done," McKeon said.
West Orange's top cop said in October, a high school friend whose son was suffering from addiction came to him with a better way to treat addicts, telling him about the ANGEL Program created in spring 2015 by the Gloucester Police Department in Massachusetts.
More than 100 departments in 22 states have created programs similar to the one initiated by Gloucester Police Chief Leonard Campanello, who was honored in April by President Barack Obama's administration for his innovation, according to the Wicked Local Gloucester.
Theresa De Nova, the township's health officer, said the West Orange Health Department is in full support of the "preventative measure."
"Painkillers such as Oxycodone, Vicodin and Codeine are being prescribed and overprescribed, finding a supply into our household medicine cabinets in greater numbers than before," Nova said in a statement. "It is in every community (affecting) all categories of the population but younger people can be more vulnerable to drug use and abuse."
On top of building trust among the community, Abbott said this cause could also help decrease violent and property crimes caused by abusers stealing to support their habit.
"A lot of these people want help," Abbott said. "They just don't really know where to go."
Luke Nozicka may be reached at lnozicka@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @lukenozicka. Find NJ.com on Facebook and Twitter.