Note: TASC will be closed for Memorial Day on Monday, May 30. Due to the holiday, Health & Justice in the News will be sent on Tuesday, May 31.
HEALTH & JUSTICE IN THE NEWS
Date: May 26, 2016
TASC in the News
Helping People with Heroin Addiction
WTVO | MyStateLine.com, 5/23/16
For those facing addiction, getting the help they need can be a challenge, in part because many people may feel ashamed for using for drugs. "[There's] so much shame around addiction because of terminology, because of how people view people who have addiction... it's not that. It's a disease," said Bridget Kiely, administrator for Treatment Alternatives for Safe Communities. According to the Centers for Disease Control, between 2002 and 2013, the rate of heroin related overdose deaths in the United States nearly quadrupled and more than 8,200 people died in 2013. "This year, we're at 39," said Winnebago County Chief Deputy Coroner Bill Hintz, referencing local deaths. "Last year, we had a total of 92, which borderline averages about 1.5 heroin deaths a week."
Around the Nation
Senate Bill Would Place Fee on Opioid Drugs to Fund Addiction Treatment
Join Together | Partnership for Drug-Free Kids, 5/25/16
A bill introduced in the U.S. Senate on Tuesday would place a 1-cent fee on each milligram of opioid-based prescription drugs. The proceeds would be used to fund addiction recovery facilities, according to West Virginia Public Broadcasting. The Budgeting for Opioid Addiction Treatment Act, or Life BOAT, could create $1.5 billion to $2 billion annually for addiction treatment, according to bill co-sponsor Joe Manchin of West Virginia. The funds would be made available to treatment facilities through the Substance Abuse Treatment Block Grant program.
A deadly crisis: mapping the spread of America's drug overdose epidemic
The Guardian 5/25/16
Today, more Americans die from drug overdoses than car crashes or gun fatalities. In all, drug overdoses killed 47,000 people in the US in 2014, the latest year for which data is available. That's 130 deaths per day, on average. The majority of those deaths - 29,000, or 80 per day - involved an opioid. The Guardian mapped 16-years of county-level data on drug overdose deaths, released earlier this year by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Between 1999 and 2014, the overdose epidemic spread from a few concentrated pockets in Appalachia and northern New Mexico to nearly every corner of America.
Only Eight Of 100 Women's Prisons In U.S. Have Nurseries
The Crime Report, 5/25/16
New York's maximum-security Bedford Hills Correctional Facility is one of the few U.S.prisons that allow mothers in incarceration to live with their babies. It is a century-old approach that not all corrections experts agree is the best way to deal with women who are locked up while pregnant, the Associated Press reports. Mothers who get such a chance say it's better than the alternative: In most prisons, babies born behind bars must be given up within a day to a relative or foster care.
Medical, Addiction Groups Partner to Advocate for Laws to Address Opioid Epidemic
Join Together | Partnership for Drug-Free Kids, 5/25/16
Medical and addiction groups have formed a coalition to advocate for legislation and policies to address the nation's opioid epidemic, MedPageToday reports. The Coalition to Stop Opioid Overdose (CSOO) includes many national medical groups such as the American Society of Addiction Medicine, the American Association of Nurse Practitioners, the American College of Emergency Physicians and the American Congress of Obstetrics and Gynecology. It also includes recovery groups including Facing Addiction, the Association of Recovery Schools and Young People in Recovery.
U.S. Judge's Striking Move in Felony Drug Case: Probation, Not Prison
The New York Times, 5/25/16
A federal judge in Brooklyn, in an extraordinary opinion issued on Wednesday that calls for courts to pay closer attention to how felony convictions affect people's lives, sentenced a woman in a drug case to probation rather than prison, saying the collateral consequences she would face as a felon were punishment enough. The judge, Frederic Block of Federal District Court, said such consequences served "no useful function other than to further punish criminal defendants after they have completed their court-imposed sentences."
Around Illinois
Generation Heroin: Police Call Rising Heroin Use 'An Epidemic'
CBS Chicago, 5/23/16
Last year alone, there were more than 800 overdose deaths in Illinois. Since 2012, heroin has taken a life every three days in Chicago's suburbs. "This is an epidemic," says Lake County, Ill. State's Attorney Mike Nerheim, who has made the issue his top priority since taking office in 2012. "It's very prevalent, it's everywhere, it's all over Lake County, it's all over the suburbs. It's all over the country. Every year, it seems more and more people are getting involved in heroin," Nerheim says. Mundelein Director of Public Safety Eric Guenther says authorities have seen cases explode in recent years and most people are unaware of the problem. "There's still a vast majority that don't have any idea about what this is, where it comes from. Not my kid, right? It's not going to happen to me. It's everywhere," he says.
Startling number of mental health patients behind bars in US (Cook County featured; video)
BBC New, 5/20/16
In America there are thought to be three times more psychiatric patients incarcerated than in hospital.
BBC correspondent Aleem Maqbool was given special permission to film inside Cook County Jail, Illinois, and to speak to individuals detained at the jail. Sheriff Tom Dart was also interviewed. "You have people who have a mental illness. It's not being treated... Where do these people end up then? In the jails and prisons," said Dart.
Cook County's Mental Health Court opts for treatment over jail
Skokie Review | Chicago Tribune, 5/23/16
According to
Judge Lauren Gottainer Edidin, Mental Health Court is about helping people get the treatment they need - not only so they won't continue to commit crimes, but so they can lead healthier and happier lives. "What we're trying to do is stabilize these individuals - many of whom have become disenfranchised from friends and family," Edidin said. "And they're alone." The first two Mental Health Courts were established in 2004 at State Street and California Avenue in the city; since then, more such courts have formed in Skokie, Rolling Meadows and Maywood. Many of those entering Mental Health Court have co-occurring substance use disorders, according to the county. Instead of spending months or years in jail, county officials said, participants get a Mental Health Court probation sentence and undergo compulsory medical, psychiatric and substance use treatment. According to Cook County, 896 people were admitted to Mental Health Court from its inception through the end of last year - 155 of them in Skokie. Ninety-three in Skokie had completed the program successfully, 62 were currently active in the program at the time.
Heroin In Central Illinois High Schools
Fox Illinois, 5/23/16
Heroin is getting into Springfield area high schools, according to local drug treatment centers. They say more young adults than ever are trying, and eventually overdosing, on the drug. Treatment providers say that heroin has become a lot easier to get in Springfield.
Members named to McLean County mental health council
Bloomington Pantagraph, 5/25/16
The new McLean County Behavioral Health Coordinating Council will begin its work in June to advise the County Board on mental health policy decisions. In a speech to the Bloomington-Normal Sunrise Rotary Club on Tuesday, County Board Chairman John McIntyre announced the names of the 16 members who will serve with him on the panel. The council is part of the county's Mental Health Action Plan unveiled last year to address deficiencies in community mental health care.
Press Release: Medicaid CARE Act to Expand Access to Substance Abuse Treatment
eNews Forest Park, 5/23/16
Excerpted from a press release from Representative Duckworth: "Last week Congresswoman Tammy Duckworth (IL-08) joined Congressman Bill Foster (IL-11) to introduce the Medicaid Coverage for Addiction Recovery Expansion (CARE) Act. This bill would expand access to treatment for people struggling to receive needed addiction care by lifting a current Medicaid ban and enabling beneficiaries to seek out inpatient treatment in mental health and substance abuse treatment centers."
Press Release: Sheriff Dart to Speak at June 5 Community Mental Health Conference
PR Newswire, 5/23/16
The Naomi Ruth Cohen Institute for Mental Health Education at The Chicago School of Professional Psychology's 15th Annual Community Mental Health Conference will take place on June 5. Speakers will include Cook County Sheriff Tom Dart and Temple University Professor Mark Salzer. "The mentally ill have been systematically neglected and demonized and ultimately criminalized in this country. Let us finally prioritize mental health and see justice for the mentally ill out of respect for their humanity, not of our fear," said Sheriff Dart. The conference is open both to the public and mental health professionals.
Research, Reports, and Studies
Report: 46 States Made Prison-Related Reforms in 2014-15
ABC News | AP, 5/26/16
A new analysis has found that nearly every state made prison-related reforms in 2014 and 2015. The Vera Institute of Justice report released Thursday finds that in those two years, 46 states enacted 201 bills, executive orders and ballot initiatives.
Opinions, Editorials, and Commentary
William A. Galston and Elizabeth McElvein: Reducing recidivism is a public safety imperative
The Brooking Institution, 5/25/16
In addition to holding individuals who commit crimes accountable, correctional facilities should work hard to rehabilitate individuals and prepare them to rejoin society. Currently, the nation's astronomical rates of recidivism indicate that correctional facilities are failing to equip prisoners with tool for successful re-entry. Given that the vast majority of incarcerated individuals will one day be released, ensuring that correctional facilities have the resources to rehabilitate incarcerated individuals is a public safety imperative.
Health & Justice in the News
is a summary of recent news stories relating to criminal justice, mental health, addiction, recovery, and related issues. It is compiled and published by TASC each Monday and Thursday.
Some headlines and text have been altered by TASC for clarity or emphasis, or to minimize discriminatory or stigmatizing language. Opinions in the articles and op-eds do not necessarily express the views of TASC or our staff or partners.
