Monmouth's Addiction Recovery Program Expands To Keansburg

KEANSBURG, NJ ? By the end of October, Keansburg and Howell will be the latest Monmouth County towns to join a program where people who are charged with a crime ? and have mental health disorders or drug/alcohol addiction ? have a chance to have their criminal charges dismissed if they agree to participate in recovery programs.

It's called Monmouth County's Recovery Diversion Program and here's how it works: If a defendant is charged with a non-violent, low-level crime and they have a substance use or mental health disorder, the municipal prosecutor will offer the program at arraignment.

If they agree, he or she will meet a recovery specialist from Hope Sheds Light, a rehabilitative nonprofit serving Monmouth and Ocean counties. The participant will begin treatment at the recommended level of care, with regimens ranging from 12 weeks to six months.

The Monmouth County Prosecutor receives monthly compliance reports for each participant. If the defendant completes all recommended treatment, maintains contact with counselors and remains arrest-free, the municipal prosecutor will make a motion for dismissal of the charges.

Dismissals are then left to the discretion of the judge.

It was Monmouth County Prosecutor Raymond Santiago who launched the Recovery Diversion program. He grew up in poverty and was raised by a single mother who was addicted to heroin. He and his mother were often homeless and they lived in her drug dealer's crack house at one point, this 2023 Asbury Park Press profile of the county prosecutor revealed. He would also have to physically defend his mother from his abusive stepfather.

He rose to become the top law enforcement officer in Monmouth County.

The Recovery Diversion Program started as a pilot in Long Branch in 2021, expanded to Asbury Park and Red Bank this year and Howell Township and Keansburg are slated to begin participating by the end of October.

Upon completion of the program, each candidate is encouraged to invite family and friends to attend a graduation ceremony; Asbury Park held its first such ceremony this past Friday, the first day of September?s National Recovery Month.

The defendant got a fist bump from the municipal prosecutor and a hug from Prosecutor Santiago.

The man's five children were present at the ceremony, and there was laughter, tears and many rounds of applause.

Asbury Park municipal prosecutor James ?Jimmy? Butler said since he's had that job since 1984, Friday was ?one of my best days ever here.?

Approximately 1 in 4 American adults have experienced signs of mental illness over the past year.

More than a million Americans have died due to a drug overdose. From 2012 to 2021, 1,500 people died in Monmouth County from a drug overdose, according to figures from the prosecutor's office.

?The twin scourges of substance abuse and mental illness together constitute the
defining public-health challenge of our times,? Prosecutor Santiago said.

Here is more information about the program: http://mcponj.org/recovery-div...