Addicted to Rehab: Race, Gender, and Drugs in the Era of Mass Incarceration (Critical Issues in Crime and Society)

These days it seems like addiction treatment is everywhere as a solution to social problems that range from crime and poverty to unemployment and incarceration. While we literally ask addiction treatment to solve a whole range of social ills and problems we know fairly little about how recovery "works" and moreover what actually happens inside of these programs. This book takes you into the world of recovery as it unfolds today and argues how we define and address addiction in the healthcare market today looks very different from "alternative-to-incarceration" programs emerging and expanding in the criminal justice system. This is an amazing, must-read book for scholars and students of punishment, healthcare, drug policy makers, activists, and journalists alike. This book completely changed my way of thinking about addiction treatment... If we want to be serious about addressing a bloated criminal justice system, social and economic marginality of the poor and working classes as well as the increases in drug-related death, we're going to have to think beyond the holy-grail of rehab.

A very important, well-written book.