The Recovery Advocate

“The long-acting injection afforded newly released prisoners a crucial buffer period after they were discharged, with more time to set up continuing addiction treatment and stabilize their lives.”

How a Maine County Jail Helped Prisoners Blunt Opioid Cravings A sheriff fought to give prisoners addicted to opioids a shot that suppresses cravings for a month. Upon release, they were more likely to continue treatment.

Are you struggling to find a job because of your conviction record? Looking to visit, reunite with, or keep custody of your children? Need protection against workplace discrimination, harassment, and wage theft?

We're here to help! On September 18th, we are hosting our next monthly In-Person Reentry Legal Clinic at DOORS Community Reentry Center featuring free LiveScan services (for expungements only) and special guest Public Counsel Audrey Irmas Gender Justice Project Workplace Rights Advice Clinic.

If you would like to attend, register by calling (323)-563-3575, ext. 6 to secure your spot! We hope to see you there!

“Baseless fear of accidental overdose dehumanizes victims and denies families important moments in their grieving process. However, a much worse possibility exists: Emergency medical workers might delay administering lifesaving naloxone to victims by spending time on unnecessary additional protective gear or avoiding contact altogether.”

Opinion | After My Brother’s Overdose Death, Misinformed People Added to Our Grief You cannot overdose on fentanyl by touching a person who overdosed.

Are you struggling to find a job because of your conviction record? Looking to visit, reunite with, or keep custody of your children? Need protection against workplace discrimination, harassment, and wage theft?

We're here to help! On August 14th, we are hosting our next monthly In-Person Reentry Legal Clinic at DOORS Community Reentry Center featuring free LiveScan services (for expungements only) and special guest Public Counsel Audrey Irmas Gender Justice Project Workplace Rights Advice Clinic.

If you would like to attend, register by calling (323)-563-3575, ext. 6 to secure your spot! We hope to see you there!

More People Are Driving on Cannabis. Law Enforcement is Racing to Learn Who is High. Oral-fluid tests and more training are helping officers track down those who are driving while potentially impaired.

“The complex needs of pregnant drug users are gaining acknowledgment in medicine. Skeptical administrators initially viewed these clinics as enabling addiction. But in just the first year of the Great Moms clinic, prenatal care visits rose by 120 percent.”

Pregnant, Addicted and Fighting the Pull of Drugs Many pregnant women who struggle with drugs put off prenatal care, feeling ashamed and judged. But as fatal overdoses rise, some clinics see pregnancy as an ideal time to help them confront addiction.

Opinion | Why Miami’s Approach to Addiction Is Working How harm reduction can work in a red state.

Narcan saves lives.

Deadly overdoses stopped surging among L.A. County homeless people. Narcan could be why Death rate from overdoses stopped rising among unhoused people in the county in 2022 — the year L.A. County was stepping up life-saving efforts, a new report found.

Join Stiiizy and Healing Urban Barrios this Thursday, May 9th for an Expungement Clinic and Re-Entry Resource Fair from 10am to 3pm at 161 S Ave 24. Get connected to employment opportunities, housing services, and more!

We're just a few days away from our Reentry Resource Fair! If you still have not registered, there is still time to do so! We have over 50 vendors joining us to provide community resources and more. We hope to see you there!

When Prison and Mental Illness Amount to a Death Sentence The downward spiral of one inmate, Markus Johnson, shows the larger failures of the nation’s prisons to care for the mentally ill.

On June 15, A New Way of Life and Healing California will be conducting a health fair at 420 Date Street, Montebello, CA 90640! Dental and vision services will be offered for free.

Service is first-come, first served. RSVP does not guarantee you will be seen.

Healing California is a community-based organization that provides free, quality dental, medical and vision care to those in need in California.

Register: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/873674342477

California is making fentanyl test strips free to organizations. How to get a kit In an effort to slow the proliferation of synthetic opioid-related deaths, California will begin offering free fentanyl-testing strips to eligible organizations across the state that ask for them, the state Department of Health Care Services announced Thursday.

On Wednesday, February 21, A New Way of Life is hosting a legal clinic at the LA County DOORS Reentry Center at 3965 S. Vermont Ave, Los Angeles, CA 90037, from 10am to 3pm.

This will be a joint in person clinic with ANWOL's Family Reunification Team. This will be an opportunity to meet in person, one on one with a volunteer and/or attorney to complete a clinic declaration and/or receive legal advice.

Register at the links below or call us at (323) 563-3575 ext. 6! Registration is optional but encouraged.

Family Reunification: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSes-D06LS7IKw-y1nXL2ezjQGA4NauM6UBf64sk2Ut8dnxLuA/viewform

Expungement and Occupational Licensing: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSe4fjJkkJm40tE842ge729dZytLG9yGANVV09dqJ5gi84aQOg/viewform

“It should be a national scandal that fewer than one-quarter of Americans with substance use disorder get treatment.”

Opinion | An Uplifting Story About Addiction, Offering a Path Forward A Tulsa program for women with substance use disorder who’ve committed crimes has a good success rate and suggests what works.

On Wednesday, February 21, A New Way of Life is hosting a legal clinic at the LA County DOORS Reentry Center at 3965 S. Vermont Ave, Los Angeles, CA 90037, from 10am to 3pm.

This will be a joint in person clinic with ANWOL's Family Reunification Team. This will be an opportunity to meet in person, one on one with a volunteer and/or attorney to complete a clinic declaration and/or receive legal advice.

Register at the links below or call us at (323) 563-3575 ext. 6! Registration is optional but encouraged.

Family Reunification: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSes-D06LS7IKw-y1nXL2ezjQGA4NauM6UBf64sk2Ut8dnxLuA/viewform

Expungement and Occupational Licensing: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSe4fjJkkJm40tE842ge729dZytLG9yGANVV09dqJ5gi84aQOg/viewform

“The abstinence-only model is very restrictive,” said Dr. Peter Grinspoon, a primary care physician at Massachusetts General Hospital who specializes in medical cannabis and is a recovering opioid addict. “We really have to meet people where they are and have a broader recovery tent.”

What Does Being Sober Mean Today? For Many, Not Full Abstinence. More younger Americans are shunning alcohol while embracing cannabis, ketamine and psychedelics, shaking up the field of addiction medicine.

“The bias that frames addicted people as self-centered hedonists further compounds the idea that opioids should be withheld, even for pain levels that would be seen as intolerable in others. In reality, people with addiction are much more likely to report mental health problems, which can lead them to seek chemical relief.”

Opinion | When Pain Tests the Limits of Recovery From Drug Addiction No one should be left in agony because of false beliefs that this protects them from addiction.

“Under the plan, officers would take college-level classes on trauma-informed practices, and be expected to interact with inmates as mentors and guides.”

Column: Tinkering with Prop. 47 won't lower crime. Fixing San Quentin will A plan for reforming San Quentin — and incarceration in California — was released Friday. It's the most significant criminal justice reform in a generation.

“Victims are generally no tougher on crime than nonvictims; they prefer rehabilitation over tough justice, even though they’ve had firsthand experience with crime and the criminal-justice system.”

The People Most Ignored by the Criminal-Justice System Victims are rarely the priority of institutions focused on punishment.

“…the largest and most representative sample of homeless individuals since the 1990s — found that 50% have not used any drugs (methamphetamine, co***ne, crack co***ne or nonprescription opioids) in the last six months.”

Opinion: People think drug use causes homelessness. It’s usually the other way around Drug use in the unhoused population is highly criminalized and stigmatized. Research debunks myths of homelessness and substance abuse.

“When science is not understood, we end up believing in fairy tales.
The story that money bail increases public safety is one such fairy tale.”

Editorial: The research is clear. Money bail doesn’t make communities safer Defendants are just as likely to appear for their court hearings and less likely to be arrested while awaiting trial in jurisdictions that limited money bail, studies show.

AA isn't the only way to change your relationship to alcohol. Here are other options Going to AA can sometimes feel like the only path to recovery — but it isn't. A reader asks about different ways of thinking about substance use treatment that have developed since AA was founded in 1935.

Markelle Taylor started running as part of the 1000 Mile Club in San Quentin State Prison. Now he’s returning as a mentor.

‘Run With Joy and Love’

Today is Overdose Awareness Day. Please be aware…

How to Use Naloxone Nasal Spray (:30) 30-second video on how to administer naloxone nasal spray to someone experiencing an opioid overdose.

“Some claim that arrests help people with addictions hit bottom and choose to stop using, even without treatment. But as the Butler County cases illustrate, arrest and incarceration often block access to treatment rather than bolster it.”

Opinion | Portugal Has Succeeded Where We’ve Failed With Addiction Claims that decriminalization is harmful are not backed by evidence.

The money should be spent on harm reduction.

Opioid Settlement Money Is Being Spent on Police Cars and Overtime As states and counties spend the first wave of billions of dollars from the pharmaceutical industry, public health groups are challenging how some funds are being used.

Thank you Homeless Healthcare.

How mobile teams on Skid Row use oxygen to prevent overdoses and save lives As Los Angeles has been devastated by rising numbers of overdose deaths, a local nonprofit decided to hit the streets to stop them, armed with cylinders of oxygen.