Opioid Crisis — Social and Economic Issues — Galsworthy Criminal Justice Reform Program

Galsworthy Criminal Justice Reform Program

Social and Economic Issues

Overcriminalization significantly undermines human flourishing and social well-being by harming the family, social networks, and social citizenship. Additionally, it prevents capable men and women from utilizing their creative capacities in the marketplace. This creates vast issues involving relations with family while incarcerated and reintegration into society after release. On the economic side, draconian cash bail systems undermine justice through basing someone's ability to attain pre-trial release upon their wealth, not their actual threat to society.

Posts in Opioid Crisis

America’s Jails Are Pretending the Opioid Crisis Doesn't Exist

“Opioid withdrawal is extremely painful and in some cases fatal; people have died in jails as a result of extreme dehydration linked to withdrawal, which causes diarrhea and vomiting. Yet only three percent of state and county correctional facilities across the U.S. carry any of the three FDA approved drugs for opioid addiction treatment: methadone, naltrexone and buprenorphine. Often when the drugs are available, it’s left up to law enforcement to decide who has access.“

Vice News

August 28, 2019

Opioid CrisisPhillip ReevesAugust 28, 2019Vice, Vice NewsComment

Locking Up Drug ‘Dealers’ to Save Users Doesn’t Make Anyone Safer

“While the death penalty proposal is more dramatic than most, it is consistent with decades of policies based on the assumption that harshly punishing people who sell drugs will reduce drug use. Politicians of all stripes have argued that long sentences for drug dealers will reduce drug availability and make remaining drugs more expensive, driving down demand. But this is not how drug markets work, and is directly contradicted by the available evidence.“

Prison Legal News

June 17, 2019

Opioid CrisisPhillip ReevesJune 17, 2019Prison Legal NewsComment

HHS launches program to cut opioid overdoses by 40 percent in three years

“The $353 million effort will test the idea that the best approaches to combat the drug crisis are well known but poorly implemented and coordinated. It will employ a comprehensive strategy in each community that encourages the involvement of doctors, treatment providers, law enforcement, courts, churches and even housing providers — an approach that has worked in a few places.“

Washington Post

April 18, 2019

Opioid CrisisPhillip ReevesApril 18, 2019Washington Post, Health and Human ServicesComment

Part 2: One Month Out

“Getting incarcerated for opioid-related charges presents a daunting challenge: navigate the healthcare system of a prison or jail and undertake the deeply personal work of treating mental illness. As part of our series Only in NH, in which we answer listener questions about the state, we’re addressing a question from a listener named Jeanne: how do prisons in New Hampshire deal with the opioid crisis?“

New Hampshire Public Radio

February 22, 2019

Opioid CrisisPhillip ReevesFebruary 22, 2019New Hampshire, New Hampshire Public RadioComment

We know how to prevent opioid overdose deaths for people leaving prison. So why are prisons doing nothing?

“In the two weeks after their release, recently incarcerated people are almost 42 times more likely to die from an overdose than the general population. With such an apparent risk and dire consequences, states need to prioritize the widespread adoption of proven strategies to lower the risk of opioid overdoses among formerly incarcerated people. “

Prison Policy Initiative

December 7, 2018

Opioid CrisisPhillip ReevesDecember 7, 2018Prison Policy InitiativeComment

Don't jail addicts. Overdose prevention sites work, and the US needs to get on board.

“Today, 200 Americans likely will die from a drug overdose. Most of them will die alone. The government's modern-day response to our nation's overdose epidemic has been woefully inadequate. Rather than relying on medical science, our leaders have been influenced by the same misguided approaches that undergirded the “war on drugs” in the 1980s — fear, stigma and racism. “

USA Today

November 1, 2018

Opioid CrisisPhillip ReevesNovember 1, 2018USA TodayComment

Three Strikes Didn’t Work. It’s Time to Pay Reparations

"The only way for states and the federal government to atone and begin to undo the damage is to commute their sentences, reverse their convictions, and pay these men reparations."

The Marshall Project

August 26, 2018

Opioid Crisis, Mass IncarcerationAnthony BradleyAugust 28, 2018The Marshall Project, Three Strikes, New York City

How the Smallest State is Defeating America’s Biggest Addiction Crisis

"The task force created a four-point plan: better prescription monitoring, more access to the overdose-reversing drug naloxone, more peer-recovery programs and more medication-assisted treatment, in prison and across the state."

Politico

August 25, 2018

Opioid CrisisAnthony BradleyAugust 28, 2018Politico, Rhode Island

Caught With Pot? Get-Out-of-Jail Program Comes With $950 Catch

"Many of the programs are entirely at the discretion of the local prosecutor, and while some are free or low-cost, others come with a hefty fee and can amount to pay-for-dismissal schemes, available only to those with money. "

New York Times

August 24, 2018

Diversion Programs, Opioid CrisisAnthony BradleyAugust 25, 2018New York Times

A New Rhode Island Law Allows for Life Sentences in Drug Overdoses

"Many drug users have had negative interactions with the police that foster distrust of law enforcement and by extension, emergency services. Kristen’s Law, then, may make people more afraid to call emergency services; if the police show up, who’s to say they won’t consider a user to be a dealer?"

The Appeal

August 16, 2018

Opioid CrisisAnthony BradleyAugust 17, 2018The Appeal, Rhode Island, Kristen's Law

Fatal heroin overdose tests limits of amnesty law

"The Fulton County district attorney has charged Williams, 35, with “distribution” of heroin — for injecting him with the fatal dose — plus a felony murder charge that could send him away for life. Williams’ lawyer is arguing that his client should be immune from prosecution under Georgia’s 911 Medical Amnesty law."

Atlanta Journal Constitution

August 9, 2018

Opioid CrisisAnthony BradleyAugust 13, 2018Atlanta Journal Constitution, Georgia

We can't fight our opioid crisis alone. We need help from countries around the world.

"It can sometimes be hard to connect how our diplomats and international programs impact our everyday lives. But the heart-wrenching truth is that there is nothing “foreign” about what happened to Bailey Henke and his community in North Dakota, or to the hundreds of thousands of families across our nation who know the scourge of opioid addiction all too well. When it comes to combating the opioid epidemic, we simply don’t have the luxury of battling this crisis on the homefront alone."

USA Today

August 2, 2018

Opioid CrisisAnthony BradleyAugust 3, 2018USA Today

Why Heroin Addicts Are Being Charged With Murder

"While these laws threaten addicts with draconian penalties simply for being in the wrong place at the wrong time, they have done nothing to deter people from doing drugs or stem the tide of overdose deaths in the U.S."

Rolling Stone

August 2, 2018

Opioid Crisis, OvercriminalizationAnthony BradleyAugust 3, 2018Rolling Stone, Louisiana

A Pennsylvania Man Survived an Overdose Only to Be Charge with Homicide

"'This is an outcome of a lot of pressure being put on police and prosecutors to ‘do something’ about the [overdose] crisis,' said Leo Beletsky, professor of law and health sciences at Northeastern University. 'At the same time, it’s indicative of the unchecked power of these institutions in pursuing interventions they think are going to be useful'."

The Appeal

July 24, 2018

Opioid Crisis, Mass IncarcerationAnthony BradleyJuly 31, 2018The Appeal, Pennsylvania

Critics Say Staten Island DA's Diversion Program for Opioid Addicts, a Model for NYC, Is Falling Short

"According to statistics from the office of Staten Island District Attorney Michael McMahon,468 defendants who faced low-level drug charges have been referred to HOPE, of which 361 completed the program and had their charges withdrawn.....But because it excludes defendants with felonies on their records, for every one defendant referred to the program, two are barred from entry, said Melissa Moore, deputy state director of the New York office for the Drug Policy Alliance."

New York Law Journal

June 25, 2018

Opioid CrisisAnthony BradleyJuly 30, 2018New York Law Journal, Staten Island