From Juvenile Justice Information Exchange:
While jailed on drug charges at New York City’s Rikers Island in 1994, Marilyn Reyes received medical treatment to curb her heroin addiction. But once Reyes, then in her 20s, was convicted and transferred to an upstate prison, she stopped getting the medications prescribed to help her overcome what’s since been labeled as opioid use disorder.
“It was the most traumatizing, horrible experience I ever had,” said Reyes, now co-director of Peer Network of New York, which provides, among other services, needle exchanges to reduce some of the health hazards of using illegal drugs.
“I went through horrible withdrawals,” she said, describing the pain she endured when those prescribed anti-addiction meds were abruptly halted. “I would sleep under the cot on the cold floor and pull out my hair because I was in so much agony.” Continue reading >>>
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