According to a recent fact sheet released by the Alaska Justice Information Center, arrest rates for most drug crimes in Alaska have fallen over the past three decades.
Alcohol & Substance Abuse
Is testing Juneau’s student athletes for drugs and alcohol effective?
Random drug testing has been mandatory for Juneau School District’s high school athletes since 2009. But among administrators, students, parents, and coaches, there doesn’t seem to be a consensus about its purpose or its effectiveness.
When a step back into prison is really a jump forward on the road to recovery
Alexandria Niksik has been in and out of prison for seven years. Her most recent return home only lasted 16 days. But what might look like failure from the outside is actually a key step toward success and recovery from alcohol misuse.
Medicaid decision allows more beds for substance abuse treatment
Medicaid has an old rule that says it won’t pay for substance abuse treatment if a facility has more than 16 beds. Now, as it faces an opioid epidemic, Alaska can ignore that restriction.
State asks for new housing units to help Alaskans in recovery
Alaska has seen a dramatic rise in opioid abuse over the last several years, with over 100 fatal overdoses attributed to opioids last year.
Report: Suicide is Alaska’s fifth-leading cause of death
The Alaska Department of Health and Social Services report shows that for 2017, suicide was the fifth-leading cause of death in the state. Nationally, it’s the 10th-leading cause.