Early recovery makes for a great redemption story. Pop culture lauds the "I beat drug addiction!" tales, but fails to follow through on the long-term effects that addiction and the criminal records that often go with it have on recovering addict's attempts to reintegrate themselves into society and the job market in particular.
When I ask non-addicts about their opinion of this type of discrimination and disenfranchisement, the standard answer is usually something to the effect of "You broke the law. You did illegal drugs and you got caught. Deal with it."
What do you think happens to this demographic, one that is included in the roughly 5.5 million disenfranchised felons in the U.S. alone, as they age beyond the low-wage jobs that they are often trapped in? What do you think happens to those that, despite having "turned their lives around" for 10, 20,30 or 40 years, now find themselves trapped by their past and unable to work their way up to a better life? What chance of success do you think they have in rehabilitation when records of felony conviction or drug abuse treatment bar them from jobs, housing, credit or health insurance?
When I ask non-addicts about their opinion of this type of discrimination and disenfranchisement, the standard answer is usually something to the effect of "You broke the law. You did illegal drugs and you got caught. Deal with it."
What do you think happens to this demographic, one that is included in the roughly 5.5 million disenfranchised felons in the U.S. alone, as they age beyond the low-wage jobs that they are often trapped in? What do you think happens to those that, despite having "turned their lives around" for 10, 20,30 or 40 years, now find themselves trapped by their past and unable to work their way up to a better life? What chance of success do you think they have in rehabilitation when records of felony conviction or drug abuse treatment bar them from jobs, housing, credit or health insurance?
My question is;
Where is it that you think we go?