Many View Substance Abuse as a Health Issue – But In Many States It’s a CRIME

JAIL’S CHEAPER THAN REHAB –

Dec. 6, 2024 – The American Medical Association’s annual report on the overdose crisis, released last month, repeatedly accused insurance companies of violating federal laws that require them to cover SUD treatment. Laws that further criminalize drug use are also making it more difficult for people who use drugs to access care, and could also lead to more overdoses.

Research shows that people are as much as 40 times more likely to overdose after experiencing incarceration, and very few jails and prisons provide access to SUD treatment.

The Biden administration continued a Trump era policy of criminalizing fentanyl and its analogues, and multiple states have toughened their fentanyl laws in recent years. For example, Colorado passed a law in 2022 that lowered the threshold for felony possession of fentanyl from 4 grams to 1 gram. Researchers predict this change will lead to over 5,000 overdose deaths in five years.

“If you want to actually treat addiction and problematic drug use as a health issue, it’s hypocritical then to want to throw individuals who use drugs in an incarcerated setting,” said Medina, “because we know that that doesn’t do anything to actually solve what is, at the end of the day, a health issue, and in fact diverts resources away from the systems of support that people really need.”