“Decriminalization” is Misconceived: Towards Improved Drug Policy

• By: Michael B. Friedman, LMSW Public Policy Analyst and Mental Health Advocate
• October 23rd, 2023
• addiction, alcohol, criminalization, decriminalization, drug control, drug policy reform, drug-related violence, Fall 2023 Issue, illicit drug use, medications, overdose deaths, regulation, substance misuse, tobacco
• 269    0

Recent reports about the problems that have emerged with Oregon’s experiment in the decriminalization of drugs have rekindled debate about this approach to reducing the damage that results from the current policy of criminalizing illegal substances. I tilt against decriminalization as currently...

From the Publisher: A Personal Journey From a Survivor of Suicide: “From the Depths of Despair to a Mission of Advocacy”

• By: Ira H. Minot, LMSW Mental Health News Education (MHNE)
• September 28th, 2020
• advocacy, depression, despair, divorce, ECT, fall 2020 issue, hope, hospitalization, medications, mental illness, recovery, stigma, suicide, survivor
• 1159    0

I was drifting in and out of consciousness in the emergency room. “You have to drink this,” someone was saying as they held a tall plastic cup to my lips, filled with a tasteless ink-black liquid. I later learned that the charcoal drink was given to me to absorb the toxic soup that was in my...