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in
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Judge Linda Davis presents
a program about Hope Not
Handcuffs.

Hope Not Handcuffs

Police
departments to
provide a pathway
to treatment for
addicts.

JACKIE HEADAPOHL
MANAGING EDITOR

16

May 10 • 2018

P

eople dealing with addiction in
Macomb County who run afoul of the
law have a chance at staying out of jail
thanks to a program launched last February
called Hope Not Handcuffs, modeled after a
similar one in Massachusetts.
The initiative was started by Families
Against Narcotics, and its goal is to bring
law enforcement and community organiza-
tions together to find treatment options for
addicts.
People struggling with drug addiction can
come to a participating police agency and
ask for help. They will be greeted with sup-
port, compassion and respect. If accepted
into the program, the individual will be guid-
ed through a brief intake process to ensure
proper treatment placement.
Judge Linda Davis, a district court judge
for the 41B District Court in Macomb
County since 2000, started Families Against
Narcotics 11 years ago. There are now 20
chapters in Michigan and one in North
Carolina. “We’re hoping
that each one of our chap-
ters will launch Hope Not
Handcuffs in their own
communities,” Davis said.
West Bloomfield defense
attorney Amy Wechsler
learned about the program
and has joined forces with
Judge Linda Davis

jn

Davis to help bring Hope Not Handcuffs
to Oakland County. Affiliated with Temple
Israel, Wechsler lives in Sylvan Lake with her
husband, Don. She recently announced her
candidacy for 48th District Court Judge.
“A lot of my clients are opioid addicted,
and I was trying to find resources for them
and noticed there weren’t that many,”
Wechsler said. “My clients were going to jail
and were reoffending when they came out.
Some of them overdosed and died, and I
knew that something had to be done.”
She came across Hope
Not Handcuffs doing
research and met with
Davis.
“I said, ‘Why aren’t these
programs in Oakland
County?’ The judge said,
‘Set up a meeting with a
couple of police chiefs.’”
Amy Wechsler
That’s what Wechsler
did. She gathered 20 police
chiefs at a meeting in late February at Keego
Harbor City Hall. “We got commitments
from 11 departments thus far and more to
come!”

HOW IT WORKS

According to Davis, many police depart-
ments in Macomb County jumped on board
“because they know how bad the opioid cri-

sis is and are tired of watching neighborhood
kids they know die,” she said. “Now we get
calls from officers who stop an addict with
a needle in his arm and instead of arresting
him, the officer calls us. The addict is given a
choice to get treatment.”
There are exceptions, the judge noted. A
felony or domestic violence warrant, being a
danger to others, under 18 without parent or
guardian consent or a medical condition that
may need hospitalization may make some-
one ineligible for the program.
Hope Not Handcuffs works directly with
the local Office of Substance Abuse Services
or a person’s private insurance for place-
ment into treatment as soon as possible. In
Macomb County, more than 200 volunteer
“angels” help with paperwork and provide
compassionate support until a treatment
option is found.
Angels can work from one hour a week to
one hour a month. It’s up to each volunteer.
Ideally, angels arrive to help within 15 min-
utes of the initial phone call, so those who
are geographically close to a police depart-
ment are always welcome.
Addicts who are afraid to walk into a
police department can go online and fill out
the application and an angel will contact
them.
“We have one angel, a woman who lost her
son after we started the program,” Davis says,