Sign up for the Today newsletter
Get everything you need to know to start your day, delivered right to your inbox every morning.
Wu administration doubles down on diversion programs for drug users ahead of summer
A police unit that connects people with recovery programs is expanding from Mass. and Cass to encompass the entire city.
As they prepare for warm weather months when congregate drug use and associated crime tend to increase at areas like Mass. and Cass, Boston officials are expanding a model that diverts users to addiction treatment programs.
The warm weather initiative began on March 30, according to a memo the Wu administration’s Coordinated Response Team sent to the City Council on Monday. The CRT is an interdepartmental group that works to eliminate outdoor substance use and connect people suffering from addiction with treatment and recovery options. The administration expanded CRT staffing last fall and began a “field-based diversion model” that brought the CRT together with a new Boston Police Department group known as Neighborhood Safety Engagement Team.
Advertisement:
In the diversion model led by the CRT and NEST, individuals are assessed “in real time” and transported directly to inpatient substance use treatment programs. For those that do not enter treatment programs, the CRT “ensures a safe return to their place of origin or connection to stable shelter.”
CRT liaisons then re-engage people who relapse or leave treatment programs against the advice of their doctors, with the goal of “reducing harm and supporting their return to recovery,” according to the memo. The city is partnering with the Gavin Foundation for this effort.
Advertisement:
The diversion model will be the city’s main “frontline engagement strategy” this summer. Officials say that people breaking the law will not be permitted to remain in the areas where they encounter outreach workers or police.
Since March 30, more than 200 people have been engaged by the CRT, with 125 being placed into “a recovery pathway,” according to the memo.
Since last fall, the NEST unit has worked out of a mobile unit alongside the CRT in the Mass. and Cass area. Now, officials are moving more BPD officers into NEST to help with the warm weather initiative and expanding the unit’s reach citywide. NEST has worked with the CRT to engage with more than 160 people since March 30, directing 90 of them into recovery programs.
NEST is expanding to target “designated impact zones” throughout the city, with a focus on “enforcement and engagement,” according to the memo. BPD leaders are expanding NEST training for officers throughout the department. The goal is to create a more “consistent, neighborhood-based” diversion system.
Mayor Michelle Wu cracked down on tent encampments at Mass. and Cass during her first term and connected those living there with treatment and housing options. But people began gathering in other parts of the city to use drugs in public, prompting a fresh round of anger from residents and business owners concerned that their neighborhoods were becoming less safe.
A group of elected officials, community leaders, and business owners made a public push earlier this year to move the city away from harm reduction policies, which seek to reduce overdoses and decrease the spread of disease without demanding total abstinence from drug use.
Advertisement:
One of their recommendations was to expand the NEST unit, which the Wu administration appears to be heeding. But they also called for a more strict approach, which would give people accused of using illegal drugs the choice between entering treatment or facing charges in the criminal justice system. They proposed the creation of a new specialty court that would be integrated into the diversion system.
City officials say they have worked to more actively enforce drug laws and move “delivery of harm reduction” indoors over the past year. The approach is working, according to Wu, who touted “fewer crowds, fewer 311 calls, and fewer needles” last week. She joined state lawmakers to announce $4 million in new funding for programs meant to decrease addiction and help people find stable housing.
Quality of life calls for service have dropped by 20% and total violent crime has dropped by 33% at Mass. and Cass this year as compared to this time last year, according to city officials.
Be civil. Be kind.
Read our full community guidelines.To comment, please create a screen name in your profile
To comment, please verify your email address