Gloucester, Mass. – Police Chief Leonard Campanello took a bold stance when earlier this month he announced that his department would no longer arrest addicts that came the police station to turn in drugs or drug paraphernalia if they were seeking help.

In a not so surprising move, the Essex District Attorney, in a letter to Gloucester Police Chief Leonard Campanello, warned that he may “lack the legal authority” to make promises of not charging heroin addicts criminally.

Rather than putting more people into the already overburdened criminal justice system, Campanello said that his department would connect those seeking help with volunteers that would assist them in getting into a detox or treatment program.

This past Wednesday, in a letter to Campanello, Essex District Attorney Jonathon Blodgett informed the police chief that he is not able to legally accommodate his promise.

“While we applaud the general idea of your proposal, an explicit promise not to charge a person who unlawfully possesses drugs may not amount to a charging promise that you lack legal authority to make, and on which a drug offender may not be able to rely,” Blodgett wrote.

Blodgett applauds the efforts of Campanello, but makes note that it is his duty to inform the police chief regarding the limitations that police and prosecutors face.

On the surface, this may sound legitimate. But if we dig deeper, we come to realize that there are many laws still on the books that are simply no longer enforced.

Using Blodgett’s logic all laws on the books must be enforced by police, which if true would lead to some interesting situations.