PAARI: Police helping, not arresting, drug users and their families

Last week's annual summit of PAARI (Police Assisted Addiction & Recovery Initiative) featured police chiefs, judges and others talking about how the organization, now eight years old and with more than 651 police department members in 40 states, is helping drug users. Co‐founder and CEO John Rosenthal opened that meeting, hosted by the Boston University School of Public Health, by noting that PAARI departments have now placed more than 30,000 people into treatment “through non‐arrest pathways.” Many drug users do find treatment through the coercive pathway of “go to treatment or [go to] jail,” which is not effective. Furthermore, it just deters people from asking for help. “You can't arrest yourself out of a public health crisis,” said Rosenthal.