Editorial Note
Stories published here represent the experiences and perspectives of contributors. RJNI does not alter the substance of survivor accounts. Where names or identifying details have been changed for safety, this is noted in the article. RJNI is not a law firm — nothing published here constitutes legal advice. Contributors retain ownership of their stories.
Sober Living Scams: How "Recovery Homes" Became Profit Machines
They charged $800 a month for a mattress on the floor, enforced arbitrary house rules designed to trigger violations, and called it recovery. When residents complained, they were threatened with eviction — right back onto the street they'd fought to leave. We followed the money. What we found was worse than we expected.
Read the Full Story →The Drug Court Trap: When "Help" Comes with Handcuffs
They called it diversion. But the conditions were designed to fail — and the revolving door kept spinning, right back into the cell.
The 28-Day Lie: Why Rehab Timelines Are Built for Insurance, Not Recovery
Insurance pays for 28 days. Facilities fill 28 days. Your actual recovery was never the variable they were solving for.
CPS Used My Addiction Against Me. Even After I Got Clean.
A survivor's account of how seeking treatment became the evidence used to remove her children — and how the system refused to acknowledge her recovery.
Fair Housing Doesn't Protect Us: How Recovery Status Became the New Eviction Loophole
Landlords figured out they can discriminate against people in recovery without saying the word addiction. Here's how they do it — and what the law actually says.
The Sobriety Pledge Industry: What "Abstinence-Only" Probation Really Costs
Mandatory abstinence conditions on parole systematically cut people off from medication-assisted treatment — the one thing we know works. We explain who benefits from that, and it isn't the person on probation.
They Took My Phone. They Called It Therapy.
He went in voluntarily. He didn't leave voluntarily. A firsthand account of what happens inside a "voluntary" residential treatment program when you try to exercise your rights.
Have a Story That Needs to Be Told?
We don't sensationalize. We don't exploit. We amplify. If something happened to you in a housing program, treatment facility, court, or any recovery-adjacent system — and you want it on record — we want to hear from you.
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