Showing posts with label drug prison. Show all posts
Showing posts with label drug prison. Show all posts

Tuesday, January 20, 2009

Drug Addiction Goes Untreated in Prison


Only 20% of addicted inmates get rehab.

Among the many ironies of the American War on Drugs, the situation of drug abusers in prison ranks high on the list. Despite decades of research showing that drug treatment can be effective, the federal government has failed to offer it consistently, on demand, for prisoners who need rehabilitation. The National Institute on Drug Abuse estimates that only one-fifth of inmates needing formal treatment are able to get it.

Why aren’t imprisoned drug addicts getting treatment, instead of ready access to a continuing supply of whatever they are addicted to? “Addiction is a stigmatized disease that the criminal justice system often fails to view as a medical condition,” says the report’s lead author, Dr. Redonna K. Chandler, chief of NIDA’s Services Research Branch. “As a consequence, its treatment is not as available as it is for other medical conditions.”

The report, published in the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA) found that roughly half of all prisoners suffer some degree of drug dependency. “Treating drug abusing offenders improves public health and safety,” asserts co-author and NIDA director Dr. Nora D. Volkow, citing increased risk of infectious diseases like HIV and hepatitis C among addicts. “Providing drug abusers with treatment also makes it less likely that these abusers will return to the criminal justice system.”

While the high cost of treatment is often cited as a reason for its general absence from the prison infrastructure, Chandler says the cost benefits of treating drug-involved offenders is obvious: “A dollar spent on drug courts saves about $4 in avoided costs of incarceration and health care; and prison-based treatment saves between $2 and $6.”

Adds Volkow: “Viewing addiction as a disease does not remove the responsibility of the individual. It highlights the responsibility of the addicted person to get drug treatment and society’s responsibility to make treatment available.”

Photo Credit: www.thecyncom

Saturday, November 8, 2008

Narcotic Farm: New PBS Documentary


Lexington, Kentucky's notorious treatment center.

From 1935 through the 1960s, if you were famous, and you got busted for serious narcotics, there was a good chance of ending up at the U.S. government's combination addiction hospital and mad scientist's dream factory. Novelist William Burroughs may have been its most famous graduate, but everyone from jazz saxophonist Sonny Rollins to actor Peter Lorre did time there.

"Narrated and scored by former inmate Wayne Kramer," according to the film's website, "the film tells the story of this long forgotten American institution through the voices of the former addicts who spent years of their lives locked within its walls."

Scientific American says the film is "based on rare film footage, numerous documents, dozens of interviews of former staff, inmates and volunteer patients, and more than 2,000 photographs unearthed from archives across the country."

The documentary will be showing on PBS channels throughout November. Check local listings. A companion book of the same title is available.
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