USA. The cycle of prison and addiction proves the war on drugs is a tragic, costly mistake

(…) Mothers across the cultural spectrum mourn the loss of their children to an overarching and punitive criminal justice system and incarceration, but dramatically more so in Black communities, where it has become infuriatingly normalized to have a father in prison. African Americans are incarcerated at more than five times the rate of whites.

My two sons struggled for decades with addiction to heroin, although they were born to white privilege. My older son was arrested for possession of marijuana when he was 20 years old, and spent 11 years cycling in and out of prison for nonviolent drug offenses and relapse. He is a survivor of both incarceration and accidental overdose. My younger son was also damaged by criminal justice involvement, which created significant roadblocks to recovery. Both were stigmatizUSA. The cycle of prison and addiction proves the war on drugs is a tragic, costly mistakeed and criminalized, and our family struggled with societal shame, mounting financial pressures and emotional pain. (Gretchen Burns Bergman, co-founder and executive director of 501(c)(3) nonprofit A New PATH and lead organizer of Moms United to End the War on Drugs, The Kansas City Star, USA, 15.97.2020