In response to NJ Advance Media's "Herointown" project, the former governor offers his view on what can be done. "We can arrest our way out of a crisis with the requisite violence, hopelessness, and overdose deaths or to provide clinically based treatment."
By James E. McGreevey
Seven women from distinctly different backgrounds held hands in a small, humble bedroom on MLK Boulevard in Newark two weeks ago as we prayed in memory of a young woman whose life had succumbed to heroin overdose.
After we read the ancient Christian commendation, "You are dust, and to dust you shall return," we blessed her twin bed with Holy Water then slowly walked out.
The repeated recitation of the burial prayers for an overdose victim is my constant reminder of the heroin crisis -- and how much work remains to be done through education, our criminal justice system, addiction recovery supports and workforce reentry programs.
I have sat with parents trying to make sense of the incalculable loss and searing pain of a child's death. There are no words of solace that can be offered. Many are "good families," parents who raised their children well, attended PTA meetings, did all the right things. These are the parents who discover after a child's death that their loved one had friends they did not know and an addiction to heroin, which was acted out in secrecy.
The tragedy of heroin overdose is that it happens to one family at a time. The overdose typically occurs in dire circumstances, ugly places, where the accomplices are drug pushers, petty criminals, and addicts themselves. Sadly, parents are often filled with a sense of shame, guilt, and anger. Many justifiably seek to apprehend the perpetrator, the dealer who sold their child the heroin, which killed them.
Heroin and crime, the nexus between drug abuse and criminal behavior is arguably among the most well documented phenomenon in America. Heroin addiction impacts a person's sobriety, judgment, and behavior.
Addict inmates have repeatedly told me of spending up to 90 percent of their time trying to secure their next "hit." Running, gunning and doping are a lifestyle to sustain one's addiction.
The U.S. has roughly 2 million incarcerated persons with an additional 5 million subject to parole and/or probation. Upwards of 70 percent of incarcerated persons are clinically addicted to drugs/alcohol, according to Columbia University's 2010 report "Behind Bars II." Meanwhile, the U.S. Department of Justice has documented that 25 percent of violent offenders in state prisons committed their crime under the influence of a harmful substance.
Grateful for the diligence of Stephen Stirling's coverage of New Jersey's heroin crisis, the investigation shone a bright light into a dark terrible place. Gov. Chris Christie has stated that treatment ought to be the default mechanism for addressing heroin addiction.
Due to Assembly Speaker Vincent Prieto's leadership, New Jersey licenses "clinically based" treatment behind bars. As Hudson County Corrections' Center has recognized, the empty time behind bars provides a structured setting to interrupt drug use and initiate treatment best practices.
As New Jersey bolsters treatment availability, nationally, only 15 percent of addicted inmates received professional addictions treatment. As the Columbia University study documents, the cost of treatment is disproportionately offset by a reduction in drug usage, criminal behavior, and an accrued savings.
At the Hudson County Jail, Integrity House counselors offer intensive daily treatment, which is client based. From sunrise until sunset, clients move from a morning prayer and community meetings to didactics focusing upon sexual abuse, anger management, and domestic violence. The clients are largely self governed.
As a wizened priest shared, "We can't think our ourselves into new behaviors, but we can behave ourselves into new thinking."
Thus, by creating a community apart from the general incarcerated population, the addict adopts new healthy behaviors. Within the daily ritual of the therapeutic community, the addicts mimic new behaviors, enabling them to act anew.
The addict moves from jail to structured, sober housing. Through Mayor Steve Fulop's foresight, at Martin's Place in Jersey City we offer intensive outpatient treatment for addicts and co-occurring treatment for addicted persons with mental health disabilities. If a person fails to abide by the requirements of the addictions treatment protocol, the client is subjected to judicial monitoring, sanctions, and/or supervision.
As Hudson County and Jersey City work in partnership, transitional sober housing with outpatient treatment being clinically driven. The client is linked with Medicaid to assess physical and mental health needs, including HIV/AIDS, Hepatitis C, diabetes, and depression.
Working with the One Stop career center, clients are then referred to training and employment opportunities. With Columbia University, we are examining how the released person can earn a sufficient income, while participating with increased training for enhanced job opportunities.
Cleaning up the legal wreckage of their past lives, the Young Lawyers Division, NJSBA, represents our clients in court.
And, with the MVC, we can view a client's abstract to identify previous probation or a parole violations. This prevents a client from being rearrested.
Thus we have a choice: To attempt to arrest our way out of a crisis with the requisite violence, hopelessness, and overdose deaths or to provide clinically based treatment with all the concomitant difficulties.
New Jersey is wisely increasingly choosing clinical treatment. Through the leadership of the governor and State Legislature, an investment toward structured reentry with addiction services is being made in Atlantic, Essex, Hudson, Mercer, Ocean and Passaic counties.
God willing, we will expand these services to other deserving counties next year.
James E. McGreevey is the former governor of New Jersey.
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