Law Commons^™

No Treatment, No Hope, No Future: Decriminalization Of Heroin And Creation Of A Medical Dependent Standard, Alexander Mangano

Journal of Civil Rights and Economic Development

(Excerpt)

This Note will analyze the current ways heroin users are treated, stigmatized, and left with very little options upon recovery to support themselves and live a normal, productive life. Specifically, this Note will focus on how New York handles heroin users and their experiences with the criminal justice system. This Note proposes the decriminalization, not legalization, of only heroin use. To help addicts with recovery, diversionary courts and programs should be removed from the criminal justice system and instead act as a civil court. Additionally, the creation of a “medical dependent” classification will allow families to effectively force the …

A Prescription For Charity Care: How National Medical Debt Ills Can Be Alleviated By Integrating State Financial Assistance Policies Into The Nonprofit Tax Exemption, Margarita Kutsin

Seattle University Law Review

Despite having the most expensive healthcare system in the world, the United States has been consistently ranked as having the worst system in terms of equity, efficiency, and healthcare outcomes among industrialized nations. The effects of these systemic issues are grounded in the patient experience as nearly forty-four percent of individuals have forgone recommended treatments and thirty-two percent have reported that they were unable to afford a prescription due to the high cost, according to a study conducted in 2018. Health is sacred, and financial circumstances should not determine the difference between treatment and illness, or life and death. “Financial …