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The Right to Recovery Is Essential to Democracy

The road to recovery—indeed, the right to recovery—is essential to a free and fair democracy. This installment of Women & Democracy is presented in honor of National Recovery Month—and is the product of a very special partnership with the O’Neill Institute for National and Global Health at Georgetown Law. Together, we explore the often unspoken intersections of addiction, recovery and gender justice—and, importantly, point to public health and policy solutions that prioritize dignity, equity, access to care and civic engagement.

Among the contributions, we are proud to release a multipart podcast mini-series, The Long Way Home, hosted by Ms. Studios executive producer Dr. Michele Goodwin, who is joined in conversation by leading experts in all aspects of recovery. A companion essay collection spotlights an array of voices who lift up critical issues like race and incarceration, LGBTQ perspectives, maternal health and pregnancy justice, and personal storytelling.

In the words of one of our contributors, “Recovery is not just a personal journey. It is a political one. It provides a roadmap for how we might mend and heal our seemingly broken democracy: people of different faiths, political parties, and diverse identities sitting beside one another, offering a hand to someone in need, and saying, ‘You got this, you are not alone.’”

Women & Democracy is our collaborative series, spearheaded by Ms. EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR FOR PARTNERSHIPS AND STRATEGY, Jennifer Weiss-Wolf. Each quarter Ms. will publish a new microsite, together with a dedicated partner, that focuses on key issues impacting full and fair representation in our democracy.

Welcome to The Long Way Home, a five-part limited series that journeys into the heart of substance use disorders and recovery. With a focus on women and marginalized communities, we explore how addiction uniquely impacts pregnant people, mothers, adolescents, and young adults. Through conversations with leading experts, we examine the intersection of addiction, the criminal legal system, systemic neglect, and the enduring effects of colonization. We center the right to recovery—recognizing it as a complex, lifelong process that deserves time, attention, and resources. This series is a space for truth-telling, learning, and imagining a more just and supportive path home.

    The Long Way Home

    1. The Long Way Home: Motherhood and Addiction (with Karen Thompson)

    In this episode:

    In this first episode of The Long Way Home, we explore the intersection of motherhood and addiction with Karen Thompson. Read more

    The Long Way Home

    2. The Long Way Home: Mental Health, Substance Use, and Adolescents (with Dr. Patricia Jones Blessman)

    In this episode:

    In this second episode of The Long Way Home, we examine the impact of substance use on the mental health of adolescents with Dr. Patricia Jones Blessman. Read more

    The Long Way Home

    3. The Long Way Home: Life in Recovery (With Cody Thompson)

    In this episode:

    In this third episode of The Long Way Home, we explore the road to recovery and life in recovery with Cody Thompson. Read more

    The Long Way Home

    4. The Long Way Home: Tagged for Life: Collateral Consequences of Drug Use and Incarceration (With Regina LaBelle and Suzula Bidon)

    In this episode:

    In this fourth episode of The Long Way Home, we examine the collateral consequences of drug use and incarceration with Regina LaBelle and Suzula Bidon. Read more

    The Long Way Home

    5. The Long Way Home: Understanding Native American Culture and Addiction (With State Sen. Angel Charley)

    In this episode:

    In this fifth episode of The Long Way Home, we aim to better understand Native American culture and addiction with New Mexico State Senator Angel Charley. Read more

An estimated 22 million Americans are in recovery from a substance use disorder.

O’Neill Institute for National and Global Health Law

The research confirms what lived experience already shows: Women are less likely than men to enter treatment despite equal or greater need, and when they do, they often arrive with more severe dependency.

Amber Lashbaugh, director of technology for the Maryland secretary of state

Recovery is not only about the cessation of substance use, but about dignity and the means to live.

Amber Lashbaugh, director of technology for the Maryland secretary of state

During the first two weeks after release from a correctional institution, individuals have a risk of death almost 13 times greater than that of the general public. During this vulnerable period, overdose is the leading cause of death.

Madelyn O’Kelley-Bangsberg, former extern, O'Neill Institute

Across the nation in the late 1980s, throughout the 1990s, and into the new millennium, cases like those at the Medical University of South Carolina (MUSC) could be and were easily misread as poor Black women lacking concern, care and discipline for their pregnancies—based on their arrests, prosecutions and plea deals.

Dr. Michele Goodwin, Ms. Studios executive producer, host of On the Issues and constitutional law and global health policy professor at Georgetown Law

Recovery is not just a personal journey. It is a political one. It provides a roadmap for how we might mend and heal our seemingly broken democracy...

Cody Thompson, program coordinator, the Center on Addiction and Public Policy and the Center for Community Health Innovation, O’Neill Institute for National and Global Health Law

When people recover, they become active participants in their lives. They vote, parent, work, study and volunteer.

Cody Thompson, program coordinator, the Center on Addiction and Public Policy and the Center for Community Health Innovation, O’Neill Institute for National and Global Health Law

At a time when our country feels increasingly divided and many are left feeling isolated and alone, recovery offers hope, investing in one another, in community and in the belief that every person matters.

Cody Thompson, program coordinator, the Center on Addiction and Public Policy and the Center for Community Health Innovation, O’Neill Institute for National and Global Health Law

Amplifying the voices of those who have been affected by substance use disorders and the child welfare system will help build systems that are more responsive to the needs of the entire family, while also creating healthier outcomes for communities and our nation.

Regina LaBelle, professor of addiction policy at Georgetown University and director of the Center on Addiction Policy at the O’Neill Institute for National and Global Health Law at Georgetown Law / Shelly Weizman, associate director of the Center on Addiction and Public Policy at the O’Neill Institute "

In the 1980s and 1990s, Black women again experienced misogynoir at the hands of the medical community during the crack cocaine epidemic and the creation of the term 'crack baby.'

Rolonda Donelson, former Maeve McKean Women’s Law and Public Policy O’Neill Institute Fellow "