PREVIEW

At the age of 23, Morgan Godvin of Oregon sold a small amount of heroin to her friend, who tragically overdosed and died.

She was charged with drug delivery resulting in death and served five years in federal prison.

Now, Morgan is dedicated to raising awareness about the hyper-punitive rise of drug-induced homicide prosecutions and advocating for change.

"I wasn't supposed to grow old. I was always going to die young of a drug overdose. Or by my own hand. Same thing," Morgan shared.

"I spent five years addicted to heroin and four years incarcerated as a direct result of my addiction. I found a system of injustice within the US justice system. Now, I work to change the systems that harmed us. I strive for safer, healthier communities."

Morgan grew up in outer southeast Portland, raised by two mums, with a father who was an anonymous sperm donor. At 19, she joined the Air Force, inspired by her mother's career in the military.

Unfortunately, an injury in basic training resulted in a 10% disability rating from the VA. Around the same time, Morgan's recreational drug use from adolescence evolved into a severe opioid use disorder.

"I spent several years addicted to heroin, first smoking and then injecting," she admitted.

"I struggled to get access to detox and treatment. The treatment I did get was terrible and didn’t help my addiction. I overdosed many times; miraculously, I was always found and revived."

In 2014, six months after her mum's sudden death from an overdose of opioids and benzodiazepines, Morgan sold heroin to her friend Justin DeLong.

"My mum was not an active addict. I think she turned to drugs just as a way to take her own life as she was incredibly depressed. When my mum passed away, for the first time, I had money to buy more than a few hours' worth of heroin at a time. Justin texted me looking for a gram, and I sold it to him. He went home that night, overdosed, and died,” recalled Morgan.

“The next day, the police broke my door down, put me in handcuffs, and told me that I was being arrested for drug-induced homicide.”

The guilt Morgan carried was overpowering. Not only was she grieving the loss of her friend and the role she had played in his death, but she was also having to face the punishment of the law.

She spent nine months at Multnomah County's Inverness Jail, which had “rampant drug use and awful food”, followed by a year at Columbia County Jail, where she was claimed she was treated “with respect by the deputies” but suffered from a complete lack of educational or recreational activities. She was then transported to the higher-security level Dublin Federal Correctional Institution in California.

"I didn't get to go to a 'camp' like the famous memoirs and the TV show. Instead, I went to a higher-security level prison,” she noted.

“I learned fluent Spanish in my two years at FCI Dublin, which had a very high percentage of women who were citizens of Mexico - almost none had committed immigration crimes."

Upon her release into a federal halfway house in January 2018, Morgan enrolled in Portland State University, double majoring in Public Health and Spanish.

She continued: "I was awarded the Gilman Scholarship to study abroad in South America during the summer of 2019. I studied in Argentina and Uruguay and travelled to Peru and Brazil. I then did an internship performing translations for INCLO (International Network of Civil Liberties Organizations) in their Argentina office. I did all of these things while on federal supervision. I became deeply interested in international human rights, which has many parallels to work within the US criminal-legal system. Mostly because mass incarceration is a human rights crisis, occurring on domestic soil with minimal public outrage."

Returning to the US brought Morgan back to the harsh realities of her status as a former prisoner.

"The week after my return to the US, I was back to peeing in a cup on command and asking for permission to cross the river into Vancouver, Washington - effectively returned to second-class citizen status,” she recounted.

“Even after I was off probation, I was prohibited from renting an apartment or even an Airbnb, delivering for GrubHub, adopting children, and holding many jobs. It was clear my punishment would continue long after my sentence ended."

In February 2020 things started to turn around for Morgan. She was appointed as commissioner of Oregon's Alcohol and Drug Policy Commission. A year ago, the Oregon Health Authority appointed her right to the Measure 110 Oversight and Accountability Council, where she is currently one of 21 Oregonians determining the grant funding that came in tandem with drug decriminalisation. She also serves on the Multnomah County Local Public Safety Coordinating Council.

"This year, I started a PhD programme in Global Health at the University of California San Diego and San Diego State University, specialising in overdose and its prevention, drug policy, and the US-Mexico border. Since my release, I have worked with harm reduction projects worldwide, from Portugal to Mexico to Brazil. I speak Spanish fluently, have worked as a translator and interpreter, and most recently learned Portuguese. Portugal's drug decriminalisation is one of the most effective models of drug policy in the world. People with felonies can travel internationally, a common misconception I try to debunk," she said.

Despite all the challenges she has faced in the past, Morgan is optimistic about her future.

"People have to be alive to get clean. Portland's harm reduction measures kept me alive long enough to get clean and be here today. I'm lucky to be alive, but I still have a criminal record that will haunt me forever. I'm proud to have created a life worth living, a life with a purpose, surrounded by love. Somehow successful at a career I never imagined, I find myself living a life I never could have predicted. Things are good, and that is bizarre," she concluded.