The St. Francois County, Missouri Prosecuting Attorney's Office requested assistance through BJA NTTAC to enhance its the office’s operations and prepare a report detailing recommendations and best prosecutorial practices in the following areas: office organization and structure, case processing and quality of work, training, and evaluation, and addressing their current heroin and opioid issues. Kris Hamann was selected to facilitate the assistance and conducted a two-day onsite visit with the agency in November 2019 and January 2020. Kris Hamann developed a report with recommendations best prosecutorial practices in April 2020.
My name is Melissa Gilliam, and I am the Prosecuting Attorney of St. Francois County, Missouri. I am writing this email to you to formally request your assistance in assessing or auditing my office, as well as requesting any help you can offer in combating the opioid epidemic. It is a dire problem facing our community, and the scope and demands of keeping up with this epidemic has exceeded the resources available to my office.
In 2018 alone, our office, which is staffed with five assistant prosecuting attorneys, filed over 800 felony cases. At least 300 of those cases that were filed were for drug violations or sales. While not all of them are opioid related, I would be comfortable asserting that at least half are related to heroin or other opioid drug abuse. This equates to nearly one third (32%) of our total caseload being drug related.
According to a report by the St. Louis County Drug Prescription Monitoring Program, St. Francois County ranks higher in opioid dispensation rates than many other counties in the state. In Quarter 1 2018, St. Francois County ranked #1 in Schedule II-VI controlled substance dispensation rates per 1000 residents. Proportionally, these numbers are excessive compared to other counties of similar size in our state. In virtually all tables of data presented in the Q1 report, St. Francois County ranks #1 overall.
A review of previous data compilations by the STL CO PDMP from Q4 2017, when St. Francois County opted into the program, reveals similar results, with St. Francois County ranking #1 or quite close to #1 in total overall dispensation rates.
The excessive prescriptions written for opioids, combined with the prevalence of opioids such as heroin on the streets, have propelled St. Francois County to the very front of the pack in dealing with the consequences of opioid abuse. The resources available to our community are simply overwhelmed by the staggering needs of people who are gripped by opiate addictions.
I aim to start a new effort to reverse this trend by combatting excessive prescriptions and offering additional treatment options to those opiate addicted citizens who run afoul of the law and seek rehabilitation. Our drug court has spots for up to 25 participants but as of this date, only contains 6 participants. We are attempting to build up those numbers but we are having difficulty doing so.
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