‘Angel’ opioid initiative thrives despite exit of Gloucester police chief
As Gloucester police chief, Leonard Campanello pledged in 2015 that drug users could walk into the police station, hand over heroin, and walk out into treatment within hours — without arrest or charges. The concept of help rather than handcuffs became a national sensation.
But when Campanello left office in October, under fire for allegedly lying to city investigators probing complaints by two women against him, questions arose about the future of a program propelled in part by Campanello’s outsize personality.
“It created some uncertainty,” said John Rosenthal, a Boston-area developer and activist who is fighting the opioid epidemic.
Campanello no longer plays a role in the city’s Angel Program — the state attorney general’s office is reviewing the case that led to his ouster — but the uncertainty has been dispelled. Not only is the program humming along in Gloucester, but the approach has been adopted by 200 police agencies in 28 states.
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