If Addiction Is a Disease, Why Is Relapsing a Crime? [nytimes.com]
When Julie Eldred tested positive for fentanyl in 2016, 11 days into her probation for a larceny charge, she was sent to jail. Such outcomes are typical in the American criminal justice system, even though, as Ms. Eldred’s lawyer has argued, ordering a drug addict to abstain from drug use is tantamount to mandating a medical outcome — because addiction is a brain disease, and relapsing is a symptom of it. Ms. Eldred’s case, now before the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court, has the...