Feb. 10, 2019

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February 8, 2019 

BILL WHITE BLOG:  Blasts from the Past

Calling Attention to Opioid-Affected Families and Children

Original Blog Date:  July 13, 2016
Fresh proposals to respond to rising opioid use/addiction/deaths arrive daily, but are striking in their collective silence on the needs of affected others—parents, siblings, intimate partners, children, extended family members, and social network members. Neglect of affected families has deep historical roots within the history of addiction treatment and recovery. Historically, family members were more likely to be viewed by addiction professionals as causative agents of addiction or hostile interlopers in the treatment process than people in need of recovery support services in their own right. Overcoming such attitudes has taken on added urgency due to the rising prevalence, morbidity, and mortality of opioid addiction in the United States and its rippling effects upon families and communities. In this brief communication, we offer some reflections on this issue and how we might use the current social crisis to forge a new chapter in the nation’s response to addiction-affected families and children.

GUEST BLOG:  Merlyn Karst

Chance, Choice, Change, Compete

With the federal passage of the FIRST STEP Act, we finally see action on criminal justice reform!

The FIRST STEP Act recently passed and was signed by the President. This was historical. For years, Congress had attempted to pass criminal justice reform legislation, such as the Sentencing Reform and Corrections Act (SRCA) introduced in 2015 by Senators Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) and Dick Durbin (D-Ill.). But the SRCA failed to pass in 2016 despite overwhelming bipartisan support. The FIRST STEP Act is consequential because it includes provisions for meaningful sentencing reform that would reduce the number of people in prison and is part of the starting point of any legislative justice reform. Sentencing laws played a central role in the rise of mass incarceration in recent decades.  

NEW RESOURCE SPOTLIGHT

2019 National Drug Council Strategy: A Report by the Office of National Drug Council Policy

The Strategy provides the strategic direction necessary for the Federal government to build a stronger, healthier, drug-free society today and in the years to come by drastically reducing the number of Americans losing their lives to drug addiction. The overarching goal of the Strategy is to save lives by engaging in a comprehensive approach that includes preventing initiates to drug use, promoting treatment services leading to long-term recovery, and aggressively reducing the availability of illicit drugs in America’s communities.

FEATURED RESOURCE

OUR MISSION

Faces & Voices of Recovery is dedicated to organizing and mobilizing the over 23 million Americans in recovery from addiction to alcohol and other drugs, our families, friends and allies into recovery community organizations and networks, to promote the right and resources to recover through advocacy, education and demonstrating the power and proof of long-term recovery.