Red Emma’s

OSI-Baltimore is hosting a “Talking About Addiction” event with leaders within the law enforcement community who are looking for alternatives to traditional approaches to addiction.  Speakers include Leonard Campanello (pictured, left), police chief of Gloucester, Massachusetts, which is, as the Washington Post put it, “The ‘only town’ in America where cops grant amnesty to drug addicts seeking help” (https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/inspired-life/wp/2015/08/17/the-only-town-in-america-where-cops-grant-amnesty-to-drug-addicts-seeking-help/) and Neill Franklin (pictured, right), who worked in law enforcement for 33 years, with both the Maryland State Police and the Baltimore Police Department, and is now executive director of Law Enforcement Against Prohibition (LEAP). “We want to discuss changing the paradigm of arresting people who have an underlying addiction and thinking about ways to reduce the stigma so there is an environment supportive to treatment,” says Scott Nolen, director of OSI-Baltimore’s Drug Addiction Treatment program, who will moderate the discussion. The event will be held at the 2640 Space (St. John’s Church) at 2640 St. Paul Street, from 7 to 9 p.m.