Unlicensed sober homes pop up all of the time, they aren't tracked by the state of California, and they are not held accountable by any government system.
This story was produced as a project for the 2018 Data Fellowship.
Becoming a new mom is stressful for the best-prepared women; struggling with addiction on top of that can lead to danger for them both.
Harm reduction seeks not to shame people who use drugs into giving them up, but simply to provide them with the tools and support to improve their health.
The boys had just returned to Module 9 of the Miami juvenile lockup from the dining hall when one of them hit Elord Revolte high and hard.
The simple act of putting the emphasis on the person and not on their health problem – be it a drug use disorder or something else – will have an impact on how you view the sources of your stories and how the story connects with your audience.
When Erin Borrego was 15, she and her classmates started experimenting with opioid painkillers. It started with pills called Percocet and Lortab, but she quickly moved on to injecting heroin.
It's true that some people, and some groups of people, have a greater susceptibility to certain addictions than others. But it's a mistake to think that those with different susceptibilities are immune from the hazards of addiction.
Opioid addiction has claimed thousands of lives in San Diego County. Understanding who is dying and how addiction has changed over the last 15 years is central to confronting the addiction epidemic.
