Madison, Wisconsin

Dane County (home of the state capital city of Madison) noted a steady increase in opioid-related death rates from 2000 to 2013. In Wisconsin, heroin death counts had stayed stable from 2001-2007, averaging 27 per year, but since then have increased sharply, reaching 267 in 2014. Preliminary evidence suggests that approaches that rely on a collaborative community effort, such as the one proposed, have the potential to increase the linkage to treatment for individuals in need of such services; this, in turn, can lead to reduced crime, incarceration and overdose rates. The Madison Police Department (MPD) plans to implement and evaluate an innovative and pilot-tested Smart Policing Initiative pre-arrest diversion program entitled “Madison Addiction Recovery Initiative” (MARI).