Sheriff Bradshaw of PBSO addresses Drug Abuse

Feb. 7, 2013 - PRLog -- Message from Palm Beach County Sheriff Ric Bradshaw:

Drug abuse is a serious problem in our community. Many of us know a family member, friend or neighbor who has struggled with addition. Some of us have even known people who have died of drug overdoses.

At the Sheriff’s Office, we are helping Palm Beach County’s most troubled drug addicts kick their habits – hopefully forever. Our Another Way program offers intensive drug education to inmates who are held in our county detention system. It’s a highly structured substance abuse and prevention program intended to help inmates begin the process of rebuilding their lives after years of living with drugs.

Unfortunately, many drug abusers will do anything to secure their next high, including committing crime against their neighbors, friends and loved ones. Many have no conscious, and they don’t remember doing anything wrong. Unless they get help, addicts will continue to steal, hurt and endanger the people around them and revolve in and out of our criminal justice system at taxpayers’ expense.

That’s why my staff started Another Way in 2011. It helps addicts who are ready to end their crime sprees, face their addictions, and agree to live without using drugs. The program isn't for everyone. Only inmates who show a willingness to want to change are accepted. As a requirement for getting into the program, inmates must admit to having a substance abuse addiction. They have to volunteer for the program. They also have to sign an agreement to commit to changing their lives.

We have needed a program like this for a while. At our detention centers, we often see the same people booked in and out for the same types of crime, a pattern that continues for years. Many of these inmates are drug addicts. Through our Another Way program, my staff has found a way to finally help them.

Another Way is based in our West Detention Center near Belle Glade. It’s a 60-day program consisting of a rigorous evidence-based curriculum. There are morning and afternoon classes, as well as lectures, discussions and other meetings throughout the day focusing on building the foundations of recovery. These inmates live with the program’s virtues day and night.

We have top local recovery experts who work with the inmates to change their thinking and behavior. More than 350 inmates have been through the program so far.

Many of the inmates who have completed Another Way have told my staff: “This is the first thing in my life that I have completed.” When they walked out of our jail system, they had the tools to end their drug abuse. They were set to become productive citizens and not be burdens to our community again.

http://www.pbso.org/ Sheriff Bradshaw