Changing practices to save lives. The dynamics and ambiguities of diversion programs implemented by police departments to address the opioid crisis
Abstract
This article analyses the implementation of diversion programs for drug users implemented by municipal police in Massachusetts. This shows how these new practices were developed and how the police officers were led to question the effectiveness of their usual methods. Faced with an avoidable deaths, they exercised their compassion to help drug users and their families. This humanitarian logic is reflected in the deployment of forms of benevolent coercion leading drugs users to make the choice towards recovery. These changes are contingent on local political will and the availability of human, financial and health resources, reinforcing territorial inequalities. The diversion programs coexist with a search for social and racial justice. These two competing logics contribute to the reclassification of drug and addiction problems as public health problems and not public safety problems.