Michigan State Police have decided to buck a nationwide trend of arresting and incarcerating drug addicts.

The backlash to harm reduction programs, which encourage patience and treatment, began in Vancouver, British Columbia, and spread down the West Coast to Seattle, Washington, and Portland, Oregon. Other cities in the Midwest and Northeast also curtailed harm reduction programs, largely in response to citizen unease with seeing more addicts in public spaces, such as parks.

One problem with the theory of arrest and incarceration is the confusion between homelessness and drug addiction. One reporter for The Atlantic counted all the tents in a public park and concluded there were at least that many drug addicts present.

People living in parks and cars are unhoused or homeless, they are not drug addicts. The reason more people are living in parks and in cars is not an increase in addiction, which is on the decline, but an increase in homelessness, which is on the rise.

Arrest and incarceration are a terrible way to treat the homeless. It is also a terrible way to treat drug addicts.

Most drug addicts are not homeless. Most drug addicts are not unemployed. Arresting and incarcerating a drug addict in most cases removes an employed worker from a family, increasing the likelihood that the person will become unemployed and homeless as a result of arrest and incarceration.

Short of executing drug addicts, as recommended on air by one Fox News host, arresting and incarcerating drug addicts is the worst possible policy solution imaginable, the most expensive and least effective way to handle drug addiction.

Drug addiction treatment does not work without housing. If the addict is unhoused, they are unlikely to complete treatment. So a housing-first approach to drug addiction makes sense. If the patient cannot find housing during treatment — and most of them can and do — the state needs to be able to provide temporary housing during treatment.

This is where Michigan steps up to provide a logical pathway to recovery. The Michigan State Police don’t arrest drug addicts, they connect them to treatment.

That’s right! A person hooked on painkillers can walk into any one of the Michigan State Police posts and request to enter a treatment program for drug addiction. They will not be arrested or charged. They will be screened right there, if they agree, and paired with a volunteer “angel” who guides them through placement into a treatment facility.

Now if that isn’t just about the most enlightened way for the state police to handle drug addiction, I don’t know what is. Instead of the tool of last resort, the state police have become the frontline, an intake center that helps solve problems before they become dangerous.

Lt. Rene Gonzalez, a spokesperson for the Michigan State Police, told WILX News10:

Here we want people to feel comfortable finally saying, “I’m tired of feeling like this, I want some help.” And you can come right to us and we’re going to make sure you get that help.

Michigan is proud that it is the first state to go statewide with this “Angel Program” that provides addicts with an alternative path to fines and jail. They are actively recruiting more angel volunteers to help guide people through treatment for any substance use disorder, including alcohol use disorder.

For more information, call or text your friendly Michigan State Police at 517-897-2091, or send email to [email protected]

Written by Steve O’Keefe. First published September 29, 2026.

Sources:

“Michigan State Police program offers treatment instead of handcuffs for addiction,” WILX News10, September 22, 2026.

“What is the Angel Program?,” Michigan State Police, undated.

Image Copyright: Joe Ross.