The little-known program contributing to a decline in overdose deaths in the US | Opioids crisis

Overdoses have been declining nationwide since the fall of 2023, and public health experts disagree on why. The decline has been uneven across states, and West Virginia, long known as the epicenter of the opioid crisis, is among the states where overdose deaths have fallen the most, a recent Guardian analysis noted.

One minor factor being explored is the increasing adoption of crisis intervention training (CIT) for law enforcement. Early Research comparing jurisdictions from those with a CIT program to those that did not show that the intervention was associated with reductions in overdose deaths.

Invented in the late 1980s, CIT was intended to help officers recognize mental health conditions and access resources and treatment rather than imprisoning those struggling with difficulties. In the wake of the overdose epidemic, these programs have become increasingly popular among law enforcement.

“As more officers realize that substance use disorders are an epidemic, more officers have become interested in crisis intervention training,” said Yolandah Mwikisa, crisis intervention unit supervisor for the Wheeling, West Virginia, police department.

“Most of them want to do their job better. They want to avoid lawsuits. They really want to understand what people are going through,” Mwikisa said.

CIT teaches officers how to recognize when someone is struggling with substance use and is in crisis, how to speak to them empathetically and calmly, and encourage them to seek treatment. Mwikasa said getting people to treatment and recovery reduces their motivation to commit crimes and can help them live longer without overdosing, even if their recovery isn’t permanent. On the other hand, sending them to prison increases the risk of fatal overdose and continued substance abuse.

Richard Frank, a senior fellow at the Brookings Institution who helped coordinate the Obama administration’s opioid response, said sending people to treatment rather than incarcerating them isn’t just about intent, it’s about effort. For example, he noted the importance of “hot delivery”; This meant delivering a person directly to the treatment facility rather than just giving them a phone number.

Mwikisa agrees that it is crucial to prioritize the needs of those struggling with substance use.

“People won’t want to tell their story twice,” he said, so instead of waiting for them to show up at a treatment facility and confess painful details they’ve already given the CIT team, he’ll call ahead to make the transition as easy as possible.

Mwikisa says he has seen the difference in the behavior of officers during his years as CIT coordinator. He remembers being pulled over for speeding shortly after moving for a CIT job.

“The treatment I was given was brutal. Perhaps more brutal than you’d expect,” he recalled.

But training changes officers’ behavior. There are skeptics, though; People who think that anyone who does something illegal should go to jail.

“Holding people accountable and providing them with assistance are not opposites,” Mwikisa said. “True failure is when we do neither.”