Erie County joins initiative offering aid over arrest to those battling drug use disorder

The ongoing fight against illegal drugs and the dangers they pose to individuals and communities extends beyond hunting down sources, making arrests and prosecuting those responsible for supplying them, say those involved in the battle.

It also involves offering help to those in the throes of addiction, law enforcement officials said in announcing Erie County's inclusion in a statewide program designed to help people with substance use disorders get into treatment.

The Law Enforcement Treatment Initiative, which the Pennsylvania Office of Attorney General launched several years ago, connects individuals suffering from substance use disorder with treatment options, District Attorney Elizabeth Hirz said as she and others gathered in the Erie County Courthouse on Monday morning to announce the initiative's local launch.

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The program also provides law enforcement with a new tool to help break the cycle of drugs and addiction by guiding people into treatment and away from the criminal justice system when treatment, rather than punishment, is a more effective option, Hirz said.

Community stakeholders will also play a role in the initiative by distributing information about the program to others and providing that information to people who may need treatment, officials said during Monday's news conference.

"We are losing an alarming number of our community to addiction, and we ask for your help to promote this program to save lives and make our community safer," Hirz said.

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Erie County has seen its number of drug overdoses and drug-related fatalities skyrocket in recent years. The county saw a record-high 124 drug-related deaths in 2017. The numbers dropped slightly in the years following that mark, but in 2022 Erie County came close to matching it with 122 drug-related deaths, according to the Erie County Coroner's Office.

Erie Police Chief Dan Spizarny said Monday that his department, which covers a city with nearly one-third of Erie County's population, responded to 246 overdoses and 35 drug-related deaths in 2021, with those numbers climbing to 286 overdoses and 54 deaths last year.

City police administered 226 doses of the opioid overdose reversal drug Narcan in 2022, up from 194 doses in 2021, Spizarny said.

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With the initiative, which will run through the District Attorney's Office, police will become proactive in addressing issues of drug addiction, Spizarny said.

"We don't need to wait for an overdose to occur. Individuals who wish to seek treatment for drug or alcohol abuse can ask for help without fear of arrest or prosecution of minor drug offenses," he said.

Erie County is now one of 22 counties in Pennsylvania involved in the initiative.

Mark Serge, chief assistant district attorney in the state Office of Attorney General, said an interesting thing about Erie is that it is a distribution hub, where drugs come in from other areas and disburse from there. He also noted that dealers are turning to new substances to cut their drugs, such as the animal tranquilizer xylazine, which is immune from Narcan.

Part of the role of the Office of Attorney General and other law enforcement agencies is to enforce the law and go after those poisoning people with the drugs they sell, Serge said. But police and prosecutors can't arrest their way out of the problem, he said.

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Police and prosecutors see the same individuals getting arrested, and for a lot of those people they are just selling drugs because they are addicted to drugs, so arrest isn't always the answer, Serge said.

"A lot of times these people feel they don't have help, they don't know where to go, don't have treatment, don't know how to find treatment," he said.

The initiative, Serge said, is about removing barriers and increasing access to treatment for these people.

"The opioid epidemic is killing upwards of 14 Pennsylvanians every day. We want to bring LETI to as many counties and towns as possible to help those people, to provide an access point, an entryway into treatment," he said.

Those needing assistance with a substance use disorder can call the Erie County Office of Drug & Alcohol Abuse at 814-451-6877.

Contact Tim Hahn at thahn@timesnews.com. Follow him on Twitter @ETNhahn.

This article originally appeared on Erie Times-News: Erie County joins initiative offering aid to those battling addiction