Artwork stating 'Education Destroys Barriers', 'We Demand Treatment', and 'I Need A Chance'

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  • ‘Safety First' Drug Education Program Acknowledges the Failings of ‘Just Say No'

    Studies show that abstinence-based prevention drug programs like D.A.R.E don't work. To provide another option, the Drug Policy Alliance, a non-profit, developed its own curriculum called “Safety First.” The 15-lesson curriculum was piloted in five schools under the San Francisco Unified School District.

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  • Why U.S. Presidents Can't Win The War On Drugs

    Fifty years on, America's war on drugs has failed at its principal goals: to eradicate illicit drug use and sales, to repair communities damaged by the drug trade, and to prevent drug-related deaths. Despite massive amounts spent on law enforcement, which has created great social harms and fueled incarceration, drug use has rebounded to 40-year highs, drug overdose deaths are peaking, and supply of illegal drugs is abundant. Policy advocates say a combination of legalization and public-health approaches to the problems would accomplish more than the wasteful, ineffective "war" mentality used to date.

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  • Cómo se trabaja en los barrios pobres de Argentina para reducir el consumo de drogas

    La Federación Hogar de Cristo, una red creada por sacerdotes católicos, agrupa a 190 centros barriales de 19 provincias de Argentina y ha ayudado a más de 20.000 personas a tratar sus adicciones. Lo hacen desde 2008 y no han parado ni en pandemia.

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  • SEPTA is testing a new way to help people struggling with addiction on the system

    A pilot program in Philadelphia’s transit system is providing social services for people struggling with addiction. Loitering violations in and around SEPTA stations are on the rise in the wake of the pandemic, spurring the city to reach out to those experiencing homelessness and addiction instead of solely policing the vulnerable populations. The project will be implemented in several other stations around the city as well.

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  • Overdose Lifeline, state providing a new hope the opioid crisis fight

    Indiana partnered with Overdose Lifeline to make the overdose reversal medication naloxone available via NaloxBoxes. The boxes, which are placed in neutral public areas that aren’t intimidating, hold several kits that each contain one dose of naloxone, instructions on how to use it, and referrals to treatment centers. The boxes make the drug available to anyone 24 hours a day without having to interact with someone. Removing the stigma of having to ask for naloxone makes it more accessible. The 60 boxes currently in use are in areas with the most overdoses and have been used hundreds of times.

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  • On Parole, Staying Free Means Staying Clean and Sober

    People in two New Jersey counties who were at risk of abusing opioids while on parole were given extra support services, and an immediate trip to rehab instead of back to prison when they slipped up. The pilot program is New Jersey's version of Swift, Certain and Fair, a federally funded program to help people succeed while on parole. In some of the 30 states with SCF programs, copying the original and successful Hawaii model didn't work. But New Jersey's approach to helping people succeed instead of laying traps to send them back to prison was deemed a success with a small, focused pilot program.

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  • Drug treatment program is helping local inmates overcome addiction

    The Bartholomew County Jail's drug treatment program started in January 2020 with a rigorous application process, followed by about 400 hours of group and individual therapy for incarcarcerated people with drug abuse problems. The therapy attempts to unlock the reasons why each person's previous attempts to get healthy have failed. All but five of the 49 graduates so far have stayed out of jail and stayed in touch with the program, which helps them after their release with housing and job searches.

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  • Addiction treatment drug buprenorphine easier to prescribe under Biden

    Bupreneophine (also known as Suboxone) is a highly effective medication to treat opioid use disorder and addiction. It is life-saving, both in reducing the risk of fatal overdoses and helping people function better as they get treatment for their disorder. But prescribing and dispensing it is in many ways more highly regulated than the prescribing and dispensing of opioids themselves. A researcher who surveyed pharmacies found that many refuse to dispense the medication out of fear of regulatory sanctions or because of misplaced moral objections to medication-assisted treatment.

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  • Officers try to break stigma, offer help to drug users

    Tucson Police Department's Substance Use Resource Team reaches out on the streets to people with substance-use disorder, offering them treatment instead of arrest and jail. The team is an extension of the department's mental health support team and was started in response to the opioid epidemic. Officers talk to people they find on the streets, or follow up on 911 calls for overdoses. Not everyone accepts the offered help, and some end up arrested on warrants. But, at a time of rising overdose deaths, the officers and the peer support specialists who accompany them often can get people into treatment.

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  • Portland's Bybee Lakes Hope Center: A jail no more

    Multnomah County sold its unused Wapato Jail to a developer whose nonprofit partner has used grants and donations to turn the former jail into Bybee Lakes Hope Center, a residential treatment program for unhoused people. After two weeks in temporary homeless-shelter status, people can opt to enroll in a three-month treatment program, something that 65% of them have agreed to do. That program combines sober living rules with job training and other services. Nearly 200 people have completed the program. The center is working on a large expansion project providing hundreds more beds.

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