As Ohio’s chief law enforcement officer, Attorney General Mike DeWine has said repeatedly that cops can’t arrest their way out of the state’s heroin and opioid epidemic. In funding innovative local programs that take police agencies outside the traditional roles of law enforcement, Mr. DeWine has put his money where his mouth is.
Lucas County’s efforts to become a model for treating addiction have attracted nearly $1 million in grants from Mr. DeWine’s office. This week, before he toured the Zepf Center housing program on Collingwood Boulevard, Mr. DeWine announced another $150,000 grant to the county to fund two additional deputies for Sheriff John Tharp’s addiction resource unit — now formally called the Drug Abuse Response Team, or DART.
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The latest grant comes on top of the $650,000 the attorney general awarded Lucas County last year, part of which will fund two additional victim advocates under the county prosecutor’s office to work with DART. Most of the grant went to Zepf Center to expand its recovery housing program from 32 to 70 beds.
In studio apartments and two-bed dormitories, recovering addicts stay six to nine months or more, while they continue off-site treatment, get peer support, and seek employment and permanent housing. After this week’s news conference, Zepf resident Tachumbi Williams, 41, of Toledo, who is recovering from a heroin addiction, said the housing program provides stability and support as he and others like him move from the chaos of addiction to sober and productive lives. Mr. Williams has stayed clean for eight months and is studying for a master’s degree in business.
The $150,000 grant announced this week will increase the number of full-time DART officers from five to seven. The special response unit, which is working on more than 160 cases, also uses part-time officers from the Toledo and Oregon police departments. A University of Toledo student is evaluating the program, so that other counties can replicate it.
In an interview with The Blade’s editorial page, Sheriff Tharp said the two new deputies — one for days and the other for nights — are starting this week. The additional officers will enable the unit to locate more overdose victims immediately by contacting them before they leave hospital emergency rooms.
To meet the growing demand for treatment, however, Mr. Tharp said his unit would need five more full-time officers. The sheriff plans two fund-raisers this spring, on April 25 and May 12, to support the special unit. “We’re still short of what we need, but this will help tremendously,” Mr. Tharp said.
DART refers minor drug offenders to treatment. Some of them will land in Zepf’s recovery housing program.
Lucas County not only has created a unique treatment unit run by the sheriff’s office, but also has developed a growing network of treatment providers who are working hand in hand to stem an epidemic of addiction. More than 150 Toledo-area residents died last year from heroin-related overdoses. Thousands more continue to struggle with addiction.
As Ohio’s heroin and opioid epidemic continues to kill and afflict, the entire state should take notice of what’s happening in Lucas County.
First Published March 18, 2015, 4:00 a.m.
