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What good am I if I’m like all the rest,
If I just turned away, when I see how you’re dressed,
If I shut myself off so I can’t hear you cry,
What good am I?
-Dylan
I would like to share with you a story about a womens rehab in New York called Project Greenhope. They have an amazing success rate. I learned more about this place from a program called NOW on PBS. Below I have pasted the link to the transcript and also some highlights of the information that I gathered.
Some Highlights:
“Of the roughly 100,000 women currently behind bars experts believe that 70 percent are addicted. Only a small percentage of them receive any treatment at all.
“If we’re committed to corrections, it’s supposed to be corrections. And when they finish correcting, they should be able to get on with their life when they get on the outside. But we have these post conviction obstacles that we put in their way, that they’re not able to get on with their lives. So what are you encouraging them to do but go back to prison? Case in point: in most states, in an effort to keep drug dealers out of housing projects, ex-cons can’t qualify for it. But without a place to live it’s tough for a person fresh out of prison to get back on her feet.
And so they’re forced to get rooms that may cost them $100 a week. So now how much latitude did someone have when they’re making $150 a week maybe, and then they have to pay $100 or $75 a week for a room? So that’s a problem.
In many states ex-felons can’t get food stamps, drivers’ licenses or student loans. They’re barred from dozens of jobs that require state licenses, such as hairdressers or bus drivers.
Of the roughly 100,000 women currently behind bars experts believe that 70 percent are addicted. Only a small percentage of them receive any treatment at all.
How much does it cost to salvage a person’s life? Rehab programs like Greenhope cost roughly 20,000 dollars a year for each woman, paid for by a combination of state money and private contributions.
The irony is that the therapy and treatment is far cheaper than the 32,000 dollars a year it costs taxpayers to keep a non-violent drug offender behind bars.”
Let us rethink our strategies and let our ELECTED OFFICIALS know that we do not support the war on drug addicts.
