District Court Judge: Addiction is a Disease

BUT IT’S STILL A CRIME? –

Sept. 23, 2021 – She admitted that while serving as prosecutor, then as a judge, she believed that in sentencing people with a substance use addiction (SUD) to jail, she was doing society a favor.

Davis’ hard views on people with SUDs changed when her 17-year-old daughter, a high school student and athlete, sustained a knee injury that required surgery. Prescribed opioid painkillers, they led to her subsequent addiction to heroin. One night, Davis heard the words that causes every parent’s heart to seemingly stop: “Mom, I’m a heroin addict. I need help.”

Davis told Legal News writer Linda Laderman that she was devastated and ashamed.

“It was extremely hard to talk about in the beginning,” she said, “because I felt like I failed. Before that, I was still looking at addiction as a moral failure,”adding that she did not understand that people could become addicted because of sports injuries and teeth being pulled.

While she was arranging help for her daughter, Davis was asked to attend a town hall meeting about drug addiction. Viewing the other attendees, Davis said she saw parents experiencing the same thing, and it was apparent to her that there was a lot of shame and humiliation in the group. Then, Davis became aware of something.