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About The skanner. (Portland, Or.) 1975-2014 | View Entire Issue (Nov. 23, 2011)
WWW . THESkANNER . COM N OVEMBER 23, 2011 P ORTlAND , O REgON V OluME XXXIII, N O . 56 25 CENTS C hallenging P eoPle to S haPe a B etter F uture n ow Benefits Cut for Moms? PePPered Hero Low-income mothers in Washing ton may lose dental coverage by Traci Tate uW news lab PHOTO bY SuSn fried W ashington legislators could take Medicaid dental benefits away from more than 30,000 low- income pregnant women later this month as part of a plan to balance the state budget, according to the Washington Dental Service Foundation. The foundation issued a statement last week charging that such a decision could lead to even higher dental costs in the future and poorer health for mothers and their chil- dren. “The state Legislature will consider a long list of difficult cuts, including the elimina- tion of all non-emergency dental care for low-income pregnant women,” said Diane Riter, program manager with WDSF, in a statement. “While policymakers will have few easy choices, this drastic cut would eventually make care even more expensive since it delays inexpensive preventive care along with restorative care for pregnant women on Medicaid, increasing the severity of their dental disease and the risk that their children will develop tooth decay.” When moms have good oral health their children also benefit, Riter said. Even though dental decay is preventable, it is the No. 1 chronic disease among children, [according to a study cited in the press release]. “Prenatal care is emerging as a powerful, cost-effective weapon to fight this disease,” Riter added. “The Washington Dental Service Foundation finds that when preg- nant mothers receive regular dental care, including preventive care, they pass less cavity-causing bacteria to their babies through saliva when they share food or utensils. This lowers the chances their chil- dren will struggle with dental disease, which in turn reduces Medicaid treatment costs.” In 2009, Medicaid spent more than $55 Dorli Rainey, the longtime Seattle activist who has become the face of the Occupy Movement for getting pepper sprayed in the face by Seattle police, was greeted as a hero Saturday, Nov. 19, by a crowd at Westlake Center. She was the keynote speaker at Occupy Seattle’s Voices of the Revolution Rally. Juveniles Held at Coffee Creek Effort to keep teens out of adult jails expands to intake process by lisa loving Of The Skanner News D o you know a teenager who has been processed for incarceration through the adult Coffee Creek Correctional Facility? The nonprofit Partnership for Safety and Justice wants to know how juveniles are being treated there, as part of a research project to bolster new legislation keeping youths out of adult jails. Youth advocates cite research See benefiTS on page 3 indeX showing that teens incarcerated in adult jails are at increased risk for physical and sexual assault, and when held in isola- tion can face an increased risk of suicide and attempted sui- cide. “The consequences of juve- niles in adult prisons are very serious and that’s why we at Partnership for Safety and Justice are working to address that issue,” says the group’s associate director Shannon White. The Partnership is a nonprofit group working on prison reform issues in Oregon. It is supported by members who have direct experience in the criminal jus- tice system, particularly fami- lies of incarcerated and former- ly-jailed offenders. During the last legislative ses- sion the Partnership helped pass HB 2707, which helps to keep youth who are charged as adults out of jail, pretrial. “Research shows kids who have contact with the adult criminal justice system are much less likely to be successful when they get out than youth who are kept in the juvenile jus- tice system,” White says. While Coffee Creek Correctional Facility is consid- ered to be the state’s women’s prison, it also serves as the pro- cessing center for newly-con- victed male offenders. Youth who are charged and convicted as adults often — even if they’re going to serve their sentence in an Oregon youth authority facility — can See JailS on page 8 Federal Drug Strategy Pushes Treatment News ......2,3,6,8,10,11 Drug Czar says new policy intended to treat addiction as an illness Opinion ..................4,5 by Helen Silvis Of The Skanner News A & E .........................7 Healthy Food.............9 Bids/Classifieds ........11 A bout 20 million U.S. adults, more than one in 10 of us, regularly use illegal drugs. And for years, the War on Drugs has sent millions of drug users, growers and sellers to prison, branded as felons. The toll on communities of color has been steep, with African Americans and Hispanics incarcerated for drug offenses at a rate 50 percent higher than for Whites. Drug Czar Gil Kerlikowske says the administration’s new drug policies will usher in a more enlightened public health approach, based on science and what we know works. So what’s different? “This new way of thinking is focused on breaking the cycle of drug abuse, crime and incarceration,” Kerlikowske told reporters Monday. “Recognizing that addiction is a disease and not a moral failure or a failure to find God, that people can and do recover by the tens of thousands, and they can be off our tax dollars and back with their families.” The National Drug Control Strategy for 2011 calls for widespread changes in polic- See TreaTmenT on page 3
