Gloucester, Massachusetts Police Department has come up with an extremely novel way of addressing drug addiction and crime. Rather than arrest addicts, they provide them help. All an addict has to do is come to the police department and ask. They will not be arrested or charged with a crime even if they bring their drugs with them. Instead, an officer will take them to a hospital where they will be paired with a volunteer “ANGEL” who will help guide them through the process.

The Gloucester Police Department has partnered with more than a dozen treatment centers to ensure its “patients” receive the care and treatment they deserve — not in days or weeks, but immediately. And it is really working. Since June of this year, 137 people have turned themselves in to the Gloucester Police Department seeking drug rehabilitation services.

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