Crime Lab, Health Lab 'It's your Lucky Day': CPD Offers Heroin Addicts a 2nd Chance
Chicago Sun-Times / January 22, 2017
By Frank Main
A weathered man who looked far older than his 54 years sat in a folding chair in his blue hooded sweatshirt while he retied the laces on his gym shoes.
Two women in winter jackets — one wearing an electronic-monitoring bracelet — sat across the room fidgeting.
They were heroin addicts arrested in a West Side drug-diversion program launched by the Chicago Police Department in early 2016. Other cities across the country have been experimenting with similar programs as heroin-related deaths have skyrocketed, including in Chicago.