A community police officer will be missed

Funny the little memories you treasure because you are reminded of someone's humanity or are pleasantly surprised at an unexpected kinship.

All of my memories of Officer Robert Jacobson are like that. They come freshly to my mind because Officer Jacobson, now retired, was found dead in his home Wednesday night. Masslive writes about it here.

Many community-based organizations have a generic wariness of law enforcement. That was equally true for
us at Arise for Social Justice; our focus on decarceration and decriminalization put us at odds with much of the mission of law enforcement. Then there were the two years when we ran an underground clean needle distribution (and collection) program. We didn't flaunt it but as time went by the program was more and more an open secret.

The first time Officer Jacobson came to our Rifle St. office my heart skipped a beat, but then I saw he was accompanying a very bedraggled woman with a black eye. "She could use some clothes and a cup of coffee," he said, after he introduced himself. We said we'd take her in hand.

A month or so later he brought us another woman, much better turned out but with the jitters of someone in withdrawal. "She needs some food," he said, and then, sotto voce to me, "I think she's ready for a program, if you can get her in."

In the next two years Officer Jacobson brought us another half dozen women, most of them prostitutes, right up until the time we closed our Rifle St. office. He was always gentle and friendly, with a core of quiet. He treated the women professionally and with respect, with never a suggestion of overfamiliarity. He told me once that every day is a new chance, that he believed people could turn their lives around with a helping hand.

I'd heard Bob Jacobson had retired and knew he'd be missed. I hope men and women of his quality continue to serve on the Springfield Police Force.
Patch photo from the Urban Compass.

Needle Exchange

Posting the story about David Hoose's law firm and how he defended Arise when we were raided got me thinking about needle exchange.

Before 2006, when pharmacy sale of syringes was legalized in Massachusetts-- one of only four states to still prohibit such sales-- IV drug users' only legal route to needles was through one of the state's four sanctioned NEX programs. Arise and others, such as Springfield's Department of Health and Human Services, tried and failed to get a similar program in Springfield-- a long and frustrating story. .

Although the four Massachusetts needle exchange programs still exist, much of the political controversy-- and organizing!-- has died away. I checked several websites, including the Drug Policy Forum of Massachusetts, and the Drug Policy Alliance, and the parts of their websites concerned with NEX haven't been updated since the pharmacy sales law was passed.

One advantage that NEX programs continue to have over pharmacy sales is that people who use the exchanges are more likely to seek treatment for addiction. You're in an environment where drug use doesn't have to be hidden, where you are not judged by your addiction, where information on access to treatment is all around you with staff ready to help you if you want to quit.

Actually getting access to treatment, of course, is another story. At one point real organizing was done around "Treatment on Demand" and people more people were aware of the issue. Now that issue and its organizing seems to have become a casualty of Massachusett's budget crisis.

Most people think of recovery from drug addiction in terms that jump from zero to one hundred with nothing in between. They don't understand what harm reduction is even though they may use it in their own lives. (Can't stop smoking yet but you can cut down; you drink too much but won't get behind the wheel of a car.) But harm prevention for drug users gets little respect. I guess it's not absolute enough in the world of personal responsibility.

Some harm reductionists believe that all the harm that is done by drugs stems from their prohibition. I'm not in that category, although I know that criminalizing drug use is far, far less effective in turning addicts into non-addicts than is a public health approach.

If someone had asked me why I choose to give IV drug users clean needles, I would not have said it was because I supported their drug use. I would have said then as I say now, Stay alive, stay alive as long as you can to increase the chances that one day you will stop using.

Springfield loses major law firm

After twenty years at their 1145 Main St., Springfield address, the law firm of of Sasson, Turnbull and Hoose is moving its main practice to Amherst. They say they plan to maintain a satellite office at their old address, but it won't be the same.

Although the firm is "full service," they are probably best known for their work in civil rights and criminal law, taking many cases with unpopular criminal defendants. Somebody has to do it, right? (Some of you would say no.)

David Hoose represented me after Arise was raided and Tory Field and I were charged with possession of hypodermic needles. He will always have my gratitude.

The firm's move is yet another loss for Springfield.

Nonprofit agrees to DA's terms
Saturday, October 02, 2004
By MARLA A. GOLDBERG
Staff writer

SPRINGFIELD - An application for a criminal complaint against Arise for Social Justice was withdrawn yesterday, as the nonprofit group agreed not to run an unlicensed needle-exchange program in the future.

A search at the group's 94 Rifle Street office last month yielded 380 unused hypodermic syringes, 62 syringe preparation kits and a medical container of
used needles. Police said they would seek warrants against Arise's president, Michaelann C. Bewsee, 56, and an organizer, Tory L. Field, 28.

However, Hampden County District Attorney William M. Bennett said that he and the police together withdrew the application for a complaint.
"The purpose of the police action was to stop the activity, and that will be accomplished," Bennett said, crediting police with professional handling of
the Arise matter.

"They understand that reasonable people could disagree regarding the merits of needle exchange programs," Bennett said.

Bewsee and Field were summonsed to Springfield District Court yesterday for a show-cause hearing, which turned out to be brief. Lawyer David Hoose, who
represented Bewsee, said the district attorney's office decided against requesting the complaint "so long as our clients agree not to operate any
illegal needle-exchange in the future."

The case was continued for three months, Bennett said, to make sure the parties live up to the agreement. If they do, the case will be terminated.
Bennett characterized Arise's actions as well-intentioned but unlawful. City Councilor Bud L. Williams has said he is pushing forward with efforts
to start a legal needle-exchange program in Springfield. State law gives local elected officials the power to adopt a state Department of Public
Health-run needle-exchange program. Programs operate in Northampton, Cambridge, Boston and Provincetown.

Bennett said he doesn't favor such programs.

"The needle is given to a person who is going to use it to commit a crime, that is, possessing illegal drugs. Also, it creates the false impression
that there is a safe way to use dangerous drugs," Bennett said.

Proponents of needle-exchange programs maintain the spread of blood-borne diseases can be slowed if addicts who might otherwise share needles can be
supplied with clean ones.

About eight people, including Arise board member Polly Richardson, gathered at the Hall of Justice yesterday in support of Bewsee and Field. The
problem, Richardson said, is Springfield's failure to run a licensed needle-exchange program.

"This is negligence on the city council's part," Richardson said. "This is a public health issue we're talking about - that should be the focus of all of
this."

Bewsee said that while she was personally relieved by yesterday's outcome, the problem of people needing clean needles remains. People from Springfield
requiring needle exchange can drive to Northampton and enroll in the Tapestry program, or drive to Connecticut, where needles are sold at
pharmacies, she said.

"I feel like we're at court today for something that shouldn't be illegal to begin with," Field said.