Burrillville drug prevention program gets more funding

BURRILLVILLE — The success of Burrillville’s addiction assistance and substance abuse prevention programs, which kicked off nine months ago to help people with recovery at the community level, has prompted the Town

Council to approve additional program funding for the remainder of this year and next.

As part of the program, Burrillville police officers and state certified recovery coach Michelle Harter have been visiting homes of recent overdose victims to provide them with direct access to recovery resources, including same-day referrals to treatment.

Harter is a licensed chemical dependency professional for the State of Rhode Island, a certified peer recovery specialist, and a recovery coach professional. She is working along side Monica Blanchette, the town’s new substance use prevention coordinator.

“From my standpoint, this has been an incredibly successful program. But there’s still a lot of work to be done.” —Police Chief Stephen Lynch

In just nine months, the program has worked with more than 350 people with substance abuse problems, placing more than 65 for treatment. But the battle is far from all. Two people died from overdoses in Burrillville over the summer.

“From my standpoint, this has been an incredibly successful program,” Police Chief Stephen Lynch told the council. “But there’s still a lot of work to be done.”

The program is described as a “peer-driven bridge between the community and treatment. It also provides

people the option of being able to drop off their unwanted prescription drugs, illegal drugs and drug paraphernalia without fear of law enforcement intervention and arrest and to meet with the coordinator and recovery coach to discuss detox and treatment options to assist them in finding a better way of life.

The Burrillville Addiction Assistance Program is partnering with the Police Assisted Addiction and Recovery Initiative (PAARI) to stay on top of all police department and peer related programs that can assist in the new Burrillville endeavor.

The Burrillville Prevention Action Coalition, a task force that included Lynch, former

School Superintendent Frank W. Pallotta, Town Council President John Pacheco and task force coordinator Gabrielle Abbate, came up with the idea, which included hiring an addiction program coordinator and a substance abuse prevention coordinator.

The Town Council last year voted to fund the substance abuse prevention program and coordinator position up to $129,260 with a Partnership for Success grant, and the addiction assistance program and coordinator position with $94,778 from the town’s general fund.

The program will be evaluated over a period of two years.

At last week’s meeting, the council unanimously voted to approve $89,806 to fund year two of the addiction assistance program, and $140,435 to fund the substance abuse prevention program for the remainder of this year and next.

“You should all be proud for putting this in place,” Town Manager Michael C. Wood told the council. “We’ve got the right people doing the right jobs. I can’t think of anything more important than dealing with this in our community.”

When he first discussed the program with the council in 2016, Lynch said it would allow town residents struggling

with a heroin or other narcotics addiction to come to the police station, surrender their drugs without fear of arrest and get plugged into a treatment program.

The program is based loosely on the police assisted addiction recovery initiative in Glocester, Mass. that helps fast-track heroin addicts into treatment. As part of that program, addicts regardless of where they live, can come to the police station and be connected to a treatment program if they commit to getting clean. They are assigned a volunteer - sometimes a recovering addict - who works with them. They can also turn in their drugs and drug paraphernalia, no questions asked.

The Glocester Police Department funds its program with money seized in drug arrests. The department has placed more than 260 addicts into treatment since the program began.

Burrillville Councilman David J. Place lauded Lynch for his efforts.

“The chief did the groundwork long before this came before the council,” he said. “He realized early on that we needed an additional tool to deal with what’s going on in our community.”