Gloucester, MA — Police Chief Leonard Campanello has been called a hero, a savior, and an innovator for opposing the war on drugs — implementing a program to assist addicts in his town — instead of arresting them and ruining their lives.

But he was just fired — under exceedingly vague circumstances.

"The war on drugs is over," Campanello previously declared in an interview. "And we lost. There is no way we can arrest our way out of this. We've been trying that for 50 years. We've been fighting it for 50 years, and the only thing that has happened is heroin has become cheaper and more people are dying."

Gloucester experienced an epidemic of heroin overdoses and addiction was rampant, until the chief came up with a spontaneous plan — allow anyone with a heroin addiction to walk into the police station, drugs and paraphernalia in hand, and assist them in getting help. No arrest necessary.

"If you are a user of opiates or heroin, let us help you," Campanello implored in a post to Facebook following news of yet another heroin overdose. "We know you do not want this addiction. We have resources here in the City that can and will make a difference in your life. Do not become a statistic."

Campanello saw that, although drugs were ravaging his city, the drug war — raiding homes, arresting addicts, locking people up who really just needed help — also had deleterious consequences, and did nothing to solve the issue.

He contacted the mayor and together they crafted the Police Assisted Addiction Recovery Initiative (P.A.A.R.I.) — since affectionately dubbed the Angel Program — to refer anyone who sought help to the appropriate treatment centers. After working out the details, the chief again took to Facebook in May 2015 to announce the plan, which would later be copied in at least 20 other departments around the country:

"Any addict who walks into the police station with the remainder of their drug equipment (needles, etc) or drugs and asks for help will NOT be charged. Instead we will walk them through the system toward detox and recovery. We will assign them an 'angel' who will be their guide through the process. Not in hours or days, but on the spot."

By the middle of August, as The Free Thought Project reported, Campanello's program had helped no less than 109 addicts. His efforts were even recognized by President Obama and, last year, was honored at the White House as a "Champion of Change."