DIG: BUSSW Lecturer Deborah Goldfarb Advocates for Recovery-Centered Approach to Help Substance Use Disorder Patients
Instead of sending patients seeking treatment for substance use disorders to health care facilities, Massachusetts patients may be incarcerated. Activists have called for changes in the state law because incarcerated patients often face abusive prison environments that are detrimental to recovery. BUSSW Lecturer Deborah Goldfarb, an expert in social welfare policy, recently testified to divert prison funding to healthcare settings.
Excerpt from “Mass Wants to Increase Funding for Civil Commitment to Treat Substance Use Disorder” by DIG Staff, originally posted in DIG:
‘As addiction experts, we know correctional environments do not foster recovery. There’s no other medical condition where we would consider sending individuals to correctional settings, let alone expect them to heal or recover there,” Deb Goldfarb, a licensed independent clinical social worker at BU’s Grayken Center for Addiction at Boston Medical Center, added. “Resources should be allocated towards ensuring equal access to person-centered, humane, and evidence-based treatment options in health care settings.’”