If Addiction Is a Disease, Why Is It Criminalized?

Monday Apr 4th, 2016

President Obama has unveiled a series of steps aimed at addressing the epidemic of opioid addiction in the United States. We speak with journalist Maia Szalavitz about her new book, "Unbroken Brain: A Revolutionary New Way of Understanding Addiction," and about her own experience of overcoming addiction. "We need to create a more compassionate and loving drug policy," Szalavitz says. "Nobody is going to believe that addiction is a disease as long as the behavior is criminal." Szalavitz is one of the leading journalists covering addiction in the United States.

Read more at: http://www.alternet.org/drugs/addiction-disease-why-criminalized

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