Some small-town police try a new tactic in fighting the opioid epidemic: helping drug abusers instead of arresting them

Officer John Cacela of Ware, Mass., and Emily Ligawiec take a weekly pottery class. Rather than arrest Ligawiec last winter when she took heroin and stole her mom's car, he offered her help. (New England Public Radio photo by Karen Brown)

Law-enforcement officials in small-town Massachusetts and a few other states are trying a new tactic in fighting the opioid epidemic: reaching out to drug abusers with offers of help instead of arresting them, Karen Brown reports for NPR.

"It's based on the idea that, for many drug users, a call to the police — for a nonfatal overdose or a drug-related crime such as theft — is the first time they get on the radar of any authority," Brown reports. "So after the immediate crisis is over, officers follow up and offer help. That could be a warm bed for the night, a referral to a recovery coach or needle-exchange program, a ride to detox. At the very least, they'll give out the overdose-rescue drug Narcan and talk about how to stay alive."

Officer John Cacela of Ware, Mass., summed it up: "We can't arrest our way out of this problem."

Last year, Emily Ligawiec took heroin and stole her mother's car. But instead of arresting her, Cacela repeatedly reached out to Ligawiec and offered her help. She initially resisted, but soon Cacela was able to talk her into meeting with him and recovery coach Susan Daley at a nearby donut shop. After Ligawiec later overdosed at home, she saved herself with the Narcan Daley left her, and then agreed to go to rehab. "It was like a tornado went through and all that was left in the center was me and a vast land of ruin," Ligaweic told Brown. "And having Susan and Officer Cacela there — it's life changing."