Jail Time Is a Terrible Way to Treat Substance Abuse
by Kara Dansky for The Nation:
Misti Barrickman has scoliosis. Since she was a teenager, it’s been debilitating. It hurt to lie down. It hurt to stand up.
She started taking Oxycontin to help with the pain and became addicted. She came to Seattle to find large quantities of the drug. Unable to find it and feeling increasingly desperate, Misti tried what was readily available: heroin. For the next seven years, she struggled with addiction. She lived between a tent and a jail cell, racking up charges for possession and prostitution.
Her story is too common.
Beth Plemmons, The Capitol Visitor’s Center’s Guide to Southern Hospitality
North Carolina native Beth Plemmons, CEO of visitor services at the Capitol Visitor Center, is a pro at Southern hospitality.
She spent 17 years working in reservations and ticketing positions at the grandiose 19th century Biltmore Estate in Asheville, N.C., then transitioned to guest services at Virginia’s Mount Vernon Estate and Gardens. The Virginia Tech alumna, who studied hotel, restaurant and institutional management, joined the leadership team of the CVC just a few months before the 580,000-foot complex’s Dec. 2, 2008, grand opening.
A History of Peace and Arrest
by Rich Schwartzman for Chadds Ford Live:
Being arrested is nothing new for 80-year-old Joan Nicholson. She said she’s been taken into custody more times than she could recall off the top of her head. One of those times, however, did lead to a year in prison.
Nicholson is, and has been, a peace activist. Her name might not be familiar, but motorists who drive by the Old Kennett Meeting near the entrance to the Kendal retirement community on Route 1 during morning and afternoon commutes know of her. She’s the woman who stands out there with signs calling for an end to U.S. military intervention around the world.
Who's Paying the Pro-War Pundits?
by Lee Fang for The Nation. Reposted on The Investigative Fund
If you read enough news and watch enough cable television about the threat of the Islamic State, the radical Sunni Muslim militia group better known simply as ISIS, you will inevitably encounter a parade of retired generals demanding an increased US military presence in the region. They will say that our government should deploy, as retired General Anthony Zinni demanded, up to 10,000 American boots on the ground to battle ISIS. Or as in retired General Jack Keane's case, they will make more vague demands, such as for "offensive" air strikes and the deployment of more military advisers to the region.
Substance Abuse Is a Public Health Issue - Not a Crime
Posted on TruthOut:
The "war on drugs" has caused more problems than it has solved since 1971. Now police have alternatives to incarceration that actually help people -and save money for the taxpayers.
Here’s What Happens When One City Gave Homeless People Shelter Instead of Throwing Them In Jail
Kilee Lowe was sitting in a park when cops picked her up and booked her into jail overnight. After she got out the next morning, she returned to the park. The same officer who had thrown her into a cell not 24 hours before booked her again. It was back to jail for Kilee.
Mental Illness, Homelessness, Drug Addiction: Do These Sound Like Crimes?
By Mychal Denzel Smith for The Nation:
Kajieme Powell told the St. Louis police to shoot him. He told them repeatedly to shoot him, and the two police officers who were called to the scene quickly obliged. But they didn’t shoot him because he told them to. The official reason St. Louis Police Chief Sam Dotson gave for why the officers shot Powell—which they did at least nine times, including several shots fired after Powell had already fallen to the ground—was that Powell was carrying a knife and charged toward the two officers holding that knife with an overhand grip.
OverCriminalized: Alternatives to Incarceration?
by George Lavender for In These Times:
America's prisons and jails are filled with people arrested for crimes connected to homelessness, mental health issues, and drug addiction. “Overcriminalized,” a series of videos from Brave New Films launching today spotlights attempts to offer alternatives to incarceration in three cities: Salt Lake City, Utah, Seattle, Washington, and San Antonio, Texas.
Three Cities Are Trying To Keep Low-Level Offenders Out Of Jail
by Saki Knafo for Huffington Post:
Jeannine Owens was afraid that her adult son was planning to set their home on fire. So she picked up the phone and dialed 911, as she’d done many times before with heartbreaking results. She’d seen the police clap her son into handcuffs and drag him off to jail, but this time, instead of barking orders at him, the cops lowered their voices and began to talk calmly.
America Needs Community Mental Health Care
by Mary Silver for Epoch Times:
It’s mental illness awareness week. Here’s to mental health, and to resilience. Very few people with mental illness become the dreaded sniper in the tower, but our idioms and our movies would make you think they often do.