Maia Szalavitz

Can judges work with psychiatrists to help solve mass incarceration?

Why we cringe for our fellow humans, and why it's so important.

Hailed as the most compassionate way for the criminal justice system to deal with addicts, drug courts were designed to balance punishment with rehabilitation. But after 25 years, the verdict is in: Drug courts embolden judges to practice medicine without a license—and they put lives in danger.

Too often, Americans with painful medical conditions who misuse pain pills like Oxycontin are denied further treatment and even prosecuted. There are more effective, enlightened responses—as the U.K. has shown for decades.

Matt Bowden (sometimes known as Starboy, an "interdimensional traveler") helped create one of the most viral outbreaks of new drugs in history. He might also have the antidote.

We're winning: More progress has been made toward enlightened drug policies and treatment in the past five years than in the previous 25. Here's an advocacy agenda to take us even closer to the future we need.

On December 17, 1914, Congress passed the Harrison Act, making non-medical opium and cocaine illegal. It was really about punishment, not public health. And it set the tone for a disastrous century.

For the paper of record, addiction is always about this drug or that drug rather than the real causes.

It's empowering to say publicly that you are in recovery from addiction. But for some, recovery is a members-only club for people who are totally abstinent. That leaves most of us out in the cold.

Journalist Mike Power broke the story of the drug revolution that the rest of the media largely ignores—he even created a drug of his own to prove it. He tells us how legal highs and the Internet are transforming use and challenging policy.

The mid-term elections prove that support for legalizing weed continues to grow. But progress has been rolled back before—it's important to remember how we got here if we're to keep moving forward.

The polarized legalization debate leads to exaggerated claims and denials about pot's potential harms. The truth lies somewhere in between.

The idea that addiction is typically a chronic, progressive disease that requires treatment is false, the evidence shows. Yet the "aging out" experience of the majority is ignored by treatment providers and journalists.

Alcoholics Anonymous and the rest remain the biggest and most polarizing force in the addiction community. I quit heroin and cocaine using the steps and have covered addiction as a journalist—and I'd argue that the picture is decidedly mixed.

Colorado is displaying human-sized "lab rat cages" in an effort to warn teens off marijuana. Like most such attempts, it's a waste of money.

Addiction treatment routinely fails people with mental illnesses, while mental health care often ignores addiction. And everywhere, stigma is rife. Can a tragic death prompt a more intelligent approach?

The paper of record has finally backed marijuana legalization. Yet it continues to fête drug warriors and stigmatize addiction.

Addiction is not about our brains being "hijacked" by drugs or experiences—it's about learned patterns of behavior. Our inability to understand this leads to no end of absurdities.

Whether it's our drug use, our laws, or the treatment options we have on offer, the U.S. frequently stands out. And that's not always something to celebrate.

A Minnesota high school student overdosed on a synthetic drug she got from some fellow teens. The prosecutor is charging them as adults—with third-degree murder—in order to "send a message." That's the wrong one.

Treatment for teens with drug problems can be stigmatizing and punitive. Advocates say that recovery high schools offer a kinder, less dogmatic, and more effective alternative.

There is clear evidence that the phrases "substance abuse" and "substance abuser" harm, as well as disparage, people with addiction. It's time to ditch these terms.

With the advent of marijuana legalization, alternatives to incarceration, harm reduction as treatment, and other rational approaches to addiction, 2014 could be an unprecedented turning point.

Challenging the 12-step hegemony.