M1.2: Complex World Editorial

Homelessness, Drug Addiction, and My Community

Throughout the United States, many communities are seeking ways to address the drug problem. In addition to treatment centers and social services, criminal justice components are developing policies and programs for dealing with the increasing number of drug-related crimes. What programs or policies have been created within your community?

As you conduct your research on your community, you will find different approaches depending on the component of the criminal justice system. Read the articles Brooklyn District Attorney Announces New Program to Erase Misdemeanor Marijuana Convictions (Links to an external site.)and Arlington Police Chief Co-Authors National ‘10 Standards of Care’ for Police Responding to Opioid Crisis. (Links to an external site.)Think about how these approaches affect the other components of the system.

“The opioid epidemic, especially with the dramatic and unprecedented rise in synthetic drugs like Fentanyl, represents one of the most significant public health emergencies in a generation. This cannot be solved by arresting and incarcerating more people.”

~Arlington Police Chief Frederick Ryan

For this assignment place yourself in the context of the community and consider what information would be important for the community to know in order to consider policy/program options to address this problem.

For this activity, you will need to choose a component of the criminal justice system (police, courts, corrections). As you move through the course you will be engaging in similar activities where you will need to choose a component and role within that component – keep in mind that the role you choose will be different for each module. For this assignment, you only need to choose a component. Then identify a drug policy or program associated with your component that has been implemented in your hometown or current city of residence.

In order to complete this assignment, you will need to submit an editorial to the Complex World magazine that addresses the questions below :

• Explain the policy or program and what the expected outcomes are – what is the policy or program designed to do?
• Is the policy or program based on research? Has it been used in other areas of the country, either successfully or unsuccessfully?
• Why was the policy instituted? Was there a precipitating event?
• Should the policy or program be continued? Why or why not?

Remember that editorials are typically opinion pieces; supporting your opinions with data adds to your credibility. So, be sure your opinions are supported with data. Assume that Complex World is a leading source of interdisciplinary information for leaders in all fields and careers.

For Complex World, here are the formatting requirements:

1. Your article should be no fewer than 600 words and no more than 800.
2. Your article should be submitted using the Complex World submission template 1. Be sure to use APA formatting for your citations and references, but the template should be used for your submission.
3. You have the ability to move images and headings within the template.
4. Be sure to include subheadings to break up your text and walk the readers through the sections of the article.
5. Lead and inline images are highly suggested. Note that images convey emotion, much like our article cover does. They also help to break up the text. Unsplash or Pixabay are great sources for free images.