Law enforcement and court officials plan to meet in the coming weeks to look into the potential of starting a new Island court system to help people struggling with drug and alcohol addiction.

Cape and Islands district attorney Robert Galibois met with town select boards in May and June and told them he would be sitting down with Edgartown first justice Benjamin Barnes, the state probation office and the Dukes County Sheriff’s office to see if there was a chance to bring a recovery court to Martha’s Vineyard.

The speciality court provides intensive supervised probation and mandatory treatments to help people with substance abuse disorder. There are 28 locations across the state, with the next closest in Falmouth and Barnstable.

The Vineyard has not been spared in the state’s opioid crisis and Dukes County has had 36 overdose deaths between 2013 and 2021, according to state records. Law enforcement officials have said that many smaller crimes stem from people with addiction.

“We need to all get in a room together to see if we can launch this,” Mr. Galibois said this spring.

Formerly known as drug court, the court guides people through recovery instead of facing incarceration, the district attorney said.

Dukes County Sheriff Robert Ogden said in principle, getting a drug court on the Vineyard is a great idea. He’s seen similar programs have success in other parts of Massachusetts and the country.

“Any diversionary programs to keep individuals suffering from substance use disorder out of the prison system is good policy,” he said. “It is not a crime to be an addict, the addiction is the catalyst driving the crimes committed.”

However, he did have some concerns.

Though Mr. Ogden said he wasn’t sure what role the sheriff’s office would play, he worried there wouldn’t be enough cases predicated on drug abuse or enough services for people to carry such a program. He also wondered if there was potential for the Island’s high cost of living to handicap the idea.

The sheriff’s office was previously involved in a similar effort called Community Corrections. It was administered through the state probation office, but monitoring, drug testing and counseling services were all provided by the sheriff’s office, Mr. Ogden said.

But it ended up closing because the Island could not produce the minimum participatory volume to justify the continuation of the program, according to Mr. Ogden.

“I support any rehabilitative program which seeks to divert individuals from the carceral system, but it will take a well thought out plan and focus on function, individual needs on the Island, and administration of the program outside of the court to be successful,” he said.

The addition of a drug court had other backers on the Island, too.

Edgartown police chief Bruce McNamee said he saw drug court work well when he was the police captain in Plymouth and he was eager to see the court expand to the Vineyard.

“We’re very anxious to see that come to the Island,” the chief said.

This week, the district attorney’s office said the meeting, which would be a preliminary organizational gathering between officials, had not yet taken place but was hoped to happen soon.

A recovery court would need Judge Barnes’ blessing, according to Mr. Galibois, as well as additional staffing.

“It’s a question of whether we can pool the necessary resources,” he said.