Obama: Drug abuse is a public health issue

Odyssey House welcomes President Obama’s position that drug abuse should be treated as a public health problem; that drug policy has been too focused on arrests, incarceration, and interdiction; and that he favors demand reduction but not legalization.

President Obama explained his stances on drug policy during a recent YouTube question-and-answer session.



The President said, “I am not in favor of legalization. I am a strong believer that we have to think more about drugs as a public health problem. When you think about other damaging activities in our society - smoking, drunk driving, making sure you're wearing seatbelts - typically we've made huge strides over the last 20, 30 years by changing people's attitudes. And on drugs I think that a lot of times we have been so focused on arrest, incarceration, interdiction that we don't spend as much time thinking about ‘how do we shrink demand?’”

He said he would like to see more resources could go towards drug rehabilitation so that those looking for help from a treatment program do not have to wait for months for assistance, and that there should be a way of steering nonviolent, first-time drug offenders “into the straight and narrow,” through drug courts or similar programs.

Odyssey House has long viewed substance use disorders as a public health issue and offers tailored treatment programs for a diverse range of individuals and families.

National drug czar visits Edgecombe

R. Gil Kerlikowske, director of the White House Office of National Drug Control Policy (ONDCP), visited the Edgecombe Residential Treatment Facility in Harlem last week. Kerlikowske met with Odyssey House officials and commissioners from the Office of Alcoholism and Substance Abuse Services (OASAS), Department of Correctional Services, Division of Parole and Division of Criminal Justice Services to discuss alternatives to incarceration for non-violent drug offenders.

Odyssey House strongly supports such measures – last year, we were selected to run the Edgecombe program, which provides intensive services to parole detainees with the aim of returning them to their communities and engaging them in further addiction treatment. Dr. Peter Provet, president and CEO of Odyssey House, said, “Odyssey House is pleased to bring a cutting-edge, intensive clinical intervention to a population at high risk of relapse. Addiction is now recognized as a chronic relapsing disorder - this innovative program is treating relapse instead of punishing it."

Read the full press release for more on Director Kerlikowske’s visit.

Guest Blogger: Peter Provet responds to NY Times article

Today, the New York Times published an article (“To Trim Costs, States Relax Hard Line on Prisons”) on the increasing number of states relying on alternatives to incarceration as a means of cutting costs. Eventually it had to stop. The fact that hard economy reality is leading the charge to change the way we do business in the prison system is an opportunity we can’t afford to miss.

In the article, New York State gets a small mention for its latest attempt to reform the harsh mandatory sentencing laws that have fueled much of the State’s outsize prison costs, but it fails to mention an innovative effort underway to address the most difficult and expensive challenge in the prison system – addicted former inmates who violate parole. In a new program, three of the government agencies involved in criminal justice and addiction (NYS Department of Corrections, NYS Division of Parole, and NYS Office of Alcoholism and Substance Abuse Services) are working together with Odyssey House to control costs and improve outcomes for eligible parole violators who, consistent with the pathology of addiction, are at risk of relapsing several times before achieving lasting sobriety.

For decades, drug courts and drug treatment providers have worked together to divert non-violent drug offenders away from prison cells and into treatment. The savings to society are significant - $18,000 per bed for basic long-term treatment, compared to $35,000 average cost of prison, and a return of seven-to-one in reclaimed productivity, for every dollar spent on treatment – but even greater is the saving in individual lives and reunited families.

Guest Blogger: Peter Provet on the Rockefeller drug laws

As Governor David Paterson moves to overhaul New York State’s Rockefeller drug laws, legislators, prosecutors, and law enforcement officials need to throw their weight behind an established treatment program that offers so much more than just an alternative to incarceration. The model is long-term, residential, therapeutic community (TC) treatment. Now more than 40 years old, the TC is an established, accredited, and respected treatment of choice for chronic substance abusers recognized by the National Institute on Drug Abuse as well as law enforcement officials, prosecutors, defense attorneys and judges. This tested model was developed in New York to both mitigate the harsher elements of our state’s drug laws and it is testament to the treatment model’s success and durability that it is now a national standard for targeting addiction-fueled nonviolent crime.

The TC is not only cheaper than prison (approximately $20,000 per bed, per year), it is more effective in reducing recidivism and helping addicts get and stay sober. Helping addicted individuals improve their education, train for and get a job, find housing, and reunite with family are the bedrock benefits of this adaptable and flexible model. Punishing addicts has cost our State millions – perhaps billions - of dollars for very little in return, while treating addiction saves taxpayers seven to one for every dollar spent. It is incontrovertible that greater justice, individual rehabilitation, and cost savings will result from sentencing reform.

At Odyssey House, we’re closely following the progress of this legislative reform, as is The New York Times, the New York Daily News, and other media outlets.

Peter Provet, Ph.D.
President & Chief Executive Officer
Odyssey House & Odyssey Foundation

Sentencing commission calls for reform

The Commission on Sentencing Reform issued its final report yesterday calling for major reforms of New York's drug laws. The report includes a number of recommendations of significance to Odyssey House, given our new parolee program and resources as a community services provider.

The plan would, among other things, double the existing weight requirements for most major felony drug sale and possession crimes, make many lesser first-time felony drug offenders eligible for probation or a jail term rather than mandatory prison, and expand parole as an option for convicted offenders.

“New York must continue to reserve costly prison resources for high-risk, violent offenders while making greater use of community-based alternatives to incarceration,” the report says.

Odyssey House is a strong proponent of alternatives to incarceration: Our newest program at Edgecombe is designed to provide intensive services to parole detainees with the aim of returning them to their communities and engaging them in further addiction treatment.