Jail is one of the largest recipients of persons with a serious mental illness. Is incarceration the best our society can do for people in need in America? It is incumbent upon the private and public sectors to make sure that help is available.

The drug war is forty years old this year. It's time to step back and ask ourselves what's the best way to solve the problem we're trying to solve -- how to reduce drug abuse and addiction -- and use the best available evidence to guide us.

As time got short, we decided to have our picture taken. We were told to stand in front of a backdrop of blue skies with white fluffy clouds. The photo was blurred and the color was off, but we both smiled like we were somewhere in the Bahamas instead of a steel gray barbed wire enclosed sterile room.

For the crime Bruce Reilly committed a life-time ago, he is now going through the ringer because of the stigma brought on by carrying the "scarlet letter" of being an ex-offender.

Prison is necessary. But there are many forms of punishment -- prison isn't our only option. Just as there are many forms of medicine to address illness, there also should be many forms of intervention to address the many forms criminal behavior.