When Warren Gosson makes his pitch for the job of Dukes County Sheriff, he talks largely about one issue: addiction.

“This Island is loaded with heroin and prescription pills,” he said this week.

And no one, it seems to him, takes the problem seriously enough.

Not the media, which are more interested in presenting a picture of the Island as a happy destination.

Not the law enforcement agencies, which are under-resourced — they have no dog unit and the drug task force has just one full-time staff member.

Not town authorities — he instances Edgartown in particular — which are content to overlook that which is bad for Martha’s Vineyard’s image.

Mr. Gosson, however, has considered substance abuse to be one of the Vineyard’s big problems dating back to when he first came here, more than 30 years ago.

He came to work as a summer cop, stayed on to become an Oak Bluffs detective, and then had a hand in setting up the Island’s drug task force. Now retired from the police, he wants to be sheriff so he can continue to work against substance abuse. Not only the above-mentioned heroin and pills, but also other addictions including alcohol, and their consequent effects of crime and domestic violence.

Those problems have long been here, he said, but they have become much more serious over recent years. Particularly the heroin problem, as supplies have become more pure and cheaper.

But despite his police background, he is not talking primarily about tougher enforcement.

His core promise instead is to implement more outreach programs, open not only to users, but to their families and all Island residents.

He outlines a scenario: there is a drug dealer serving dozens of Islanders. You find out from a customer. You don’t bust that customer, for fear of alerting the dealer. But when you nab the dealer, you don’t bust the customers then, either.

You place them in rehab programs.

“That’s much more effective than one pair of handcuffs,” he said.

Mr. Gosson portrays himself as the man in the middle in the three-way contest for Dukes County sheriff.

“Both the other candidates have their points. But I know I have the credentials,” he said.

Like the incumbent, Mike McCormack, he has qualifications as a corrections officer. Like the other challenger, Neal Maciel, he worked as a cop in Oak Bluffs.

And, being the man in the middle, he makes some of the criticisms that Mr. Maciel and Mr. McCormack make of each other, albeit in more moderate fashion.

For example, like Mr. Maciel, he is critical of Mr. McCormack for being too willing to agree to the transfer of off-Island prisoners to the Dukes County jail.

Mr. Maciel said he would do his best to prohibit such transfers, on the basis that they import criminals to the Island, some of whom stay here after their releases. Sheriff McCormack denies the problem exists.

Mr. Gosson’s approach is somewhat more nuanced. Yes, he said, there have been instances of transfer prisoners becoming a problem in the Island community.

But he would not stop all such transfers happening, for a couple of reasons.

First, because the Island has no capacity to house female inmates, other sheriffs were “doing us a favor” in taking them, and would on occasion expect a favor in return.

And in some cases judges stipulated that particular prisoners be sent here for crimes committed off-island.

“As an officer of the court, the sheriff can’t do anything to stop that,” Mr. Gosson said.

He suggested Mr. Maciel was either misinformed or disingenuous in saying he would investigate ways to stop judges doing that. They did it because the Island jail is a relatively safe place to put inmates who might be at risk in the state’s larger prisons, he said.

“There are two places in Massachusetts where judges are likely to sentence a priest, police officer, corrections officer, or someone like that who is at risk. One is western Massachusetts, the other is Dukes County,” he said, adding:

“It’s not going to stop.”

Of his competitors, he said the incumbent, Mike McCormack is troubled by an internal rift in his department.

“I’m aware of that, but I see no reason to make it a campaign issue,” he said.

And Mr. Maciel, with whom he worked in the Oak Bluffs police, is “a good guy, but in no way qualified or experienced in corrections.”

He, on the other hand, not only has college qualifications, but had also done internships in jails.

Mr. Gosson did not suggest that he would emulate Mr. Maciel in subjecting prisoners on work release to strip searches. But he did foreshadow another change to the way work release operated, if he were elected.

“You see them out picking up papers by the roadside. I would like to see them do other things as well.

“Maybe there are seniors who need a window fixed, or Mrs. Jones has a leaking roof. As long as it was not taking work away from other people, I can’t see why they could not do some of those sorts of jobs,” he said.

Apart from the drug issue, Mr. Gosson’s major concern is protecting young people from criminals. At the center of the problem, he said, is the fact that criminal record checks of potential school employees and others working with young people is inadequate.

Currently, the checking is done through the Criminal Offender Record Information (CORI) system. But that detects people with criminal histories only in Massachusetts.

“There have been many instances over the years of people who were employed even though they had violations,” he said.

He is a strong supporter of House Bill 1433, which would expand criminal checks to encompass a National Crime Information Check (NCIC).

Mr. Gosson said he had spoken with the local state representative and senator about the problem, urging passage of the change.

“I hope it will pass, but if I’m elected I’m not going to wait for the bill,” he said.

He would work with schools to conduct NCIC checks, not only on potential teachers, but bus drivers, sports coaches and other staff.