BOSTON — John Rosenthal, Co-founder and Chairman of the Police Assisted Addiction and Recovery Initiative (PAARI), and Brittney Garrett, Director of Public Safety Training and Outreach, applaud release of National Drug Control Strategy by President Joe Biden and the Office of National Drug Control Policy.
“We applaud President Biden for taking bold action on the opioid and polysubstance misuse epidemic,” Chairman Rosenthal said. “With over 100,000 overdose deaths last year, breaking down barriers to access to treatment is more relevant and critical than ever. We applaud the President and Dr. Rahul Gupta’s call to expand programs like the fentanyl test strip program that PAARI partners successfully piloted in Massachusetts and Maine.”
“The overdose epidemic has left a permanent scar in communities across America,” Director Garrett said. “Addressing this polysubstance overdose crisis will take an all-hands-on-deck effort and everyone has a role to play. I’m thrilled that the President is addressing drug trafficking head-on to stem the tide of illicit drugs on the market in parallel with unbiased access to evidence-based medication assisted treatment and removing systemic barriers to treatment and long term recovery.”
To learn more about the National Drug Control Strategy released Thursday, click here.
About PAARI:
The Police Assisted Addiction & Recovery Initiative (PAARI) is a nonprofit organization with a mission to help law enforcement agencies nationwide create non-arrest pathways to treatment and recovery. Founded alongside the groundbreaking Gloucester, Mass., Police Department Angel Initiative in June 2015, PAARI has been a driving force behind this rapidly expanding community policing movement. We provide technical assistance, coaching, grants, and other capacity-building resources to more than 700 police departments in 40 states.
PAARI works with more than 130 law enforcement agencies in Massachusetts alone. PAARI and our law enforcement partners are working towards a collective vision where non-arrest diversion programs become a standard policing practice across the country, thereby reducing overdose deaths, expanding access to treatment, improving public safety, reducing crime, diverting people away from the criminal justice system, and increasing trust between law enforcement and their communities. Our programs and partners have saved tens of thousands of lives, changed police culture, reshaped the national conversation about the opioid epidemic, and have placed more than 30,000 people into treatment since its founding in June 2015. Learn more at paariusa.org.
