Austin Uses Money From Police Budget to Fund Substance Use Care The city will use $1 million in funds diverted from its police budget to expand substance use treatments and harm reduction services for low-income people in Austin and Travis County. Meg O'Connor
Criminal Justice Reform Should Decriminalize Addiction, Advocates Say Efforts to address the harms of police violence and incarceration must consider the drug war, activists and treatment professionals note, including the punitive models of treatment. Elizabeth Brico
‘I Feel Trapped’: Treating Drug Use in the COVID-19 Pandemic Social distancing orders are a necessity, but they create a host of new problems for people in treatment for substance use disorders. Alice Markham-Cantor
This D.A. Election Could Bring a Big Change in How Austin, Texas Treats Drug Addiction In Travis County, thousands of people continue to be prosecuted for low-level drug possession charges that reform-minded district attorneys elsewhere have committed to dropping. Kira Lerner
He Attempted Suicide and Ended Up In Jail Arthur’s story speaks to a troubling tendency in the legal system, reform advocates say: to treat mental health crises as criminal matters, rather than matters of public health. Elizabeth Weill-Greenberg
It’s Time For LA’s District Attorney’s Office To Lead The Way On Decriminalizing Homelessness As a form of punishment, incarceration does not enhance public safety when it is not balanced against its tendency to make a person’s unfortunate situation worse. Alex Sherman
