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Presentation Type
Presentation
Full Name of Faculty Mentor
Aneilya Barnes, History, and Kaitlin Sidorsky, Politics
Major
Political Science
Second Major
Communication
Presentation Abstract
The opioid epidemic in the United States has been devastating, claiming over 500,000 lives since 1999. Attitudes toward addiction and how it is handled in the legislative, criminal justice, and health systems continue to evolve, with states adopting a range of policies on substance abuse. In 2020, Oregon decriminalized all drugs, prioritizing rehabilitation over punitive efforts. This research compares the results of Oregon's rehabilitation policies governing opioid use disorder to those of the incarceration-centered policies that Illinois has adopted. Through an examination of legislation, incarceration statistics, overdose rates, and budget reforms regarding rehabilitation and imprisonment for each state, this paper will demonstrate that incarceration is a punitive measure for those struggling with opioid addiction and only serves to further perpetuate its cycle.
Location
Virtual Session Room 3
Start Date
22-4-2021 1:20 PM
End Date
22-4-2021 1:40 PM
Recommended Citation
Rhodes, Caitlin, "The War on Addiction: Incarceration vs Rehabilitation During the Opioid Epidemic" (2021). Undergraduate Research Competition. 16.
https://digitalcommons.coastal.edu/ugrc/2021/fullconference/16
The War on Addiction: Incarceration vs Rehabilitation During the Opioid Epidemic
Virtual Session Room 3
The opioid epidemic in the United States has been devastating, claiming over 500,000 lives since 1999. Attitudes toward addiction and how it is handled in the legislative, criminal justice, and health systems continue to evolve, with states adopting a range of policies on substance abuse. In 2020, Oregon decriminalized all drugs, prioritizing rehabilitation over punitive efforts. This research compares the results of Oregon's rehabilitation policies governing opioid use disorder to those of the incarceration-centered policies that Illinois has adopted. Through an examination of legislation, incarceration statistics, overdose rates, and budget reforms regarding rehabilitation and imprisonment for each state, this paper will demonstrate that incarceration is a punitive measure for those struggling with opioid addiction and only serves to further perpetuate its cycle.