Law Enforcement Assisted Diversion pilot program will give police officers discretion in sending addicts into jail or directing them to treatment.
(Hamilton County, Oh.) - The Hamilton County Heroin Coalition is announcing a new effort to get addicts into treatment instead of jail.
The LEAD program stands for Law Enforcement Assisted Diversion. It is being funded by a $500,000 federal grant, according to HCHC's 2019 State of the Heroin Crisis report.
The pre-arrest diversion pilot program gives police officers in the City of Cincinnati the discretion to send low-level, non-violent offenders to treatment instead of jail. It follows the model of a program first established in Seattle.
For now, the LEAD program is only being introduced in select areas in the City of Cincinnati.
According to the HCAC's annual report, there were 223 total heroin or opiate-related deaths in Hamilton County in 2018, a 3.5 percent decrease from 2017. Although law enforcement seized 117.2 grams of heroin county-wide for a 55 percent decrease from the prior year, the 844.15 grams of fentanyl mix drugs recovered was a 320 percent increase.
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