Episode 7: “America Is Wasting Human Potential” Featuring Morgan Godvin
Morgan Godvin survived heroin addiction, multiple overdoses, incarceration and the loss of people she loved most.
At one point, the system knew exactly how to punish her.
It had far fewer answers for how to help her.
Today, Morgan is a researcher, writer and advocate studying the very policies that shaped her own life.
Her story challenges a deeply rooted belief in American drug policy: that punishment creates recovery. What if punishment isn't solving addiction? What if it is making recovery harder?
Instead, she asks a different question.
How much human potential are we losing when addiction is treated as a crime instead of a health condition?
Morgan argues that addiction is a healthcare issue and that every person lost to incarceration, stigma and inadequate treatment represents squandered human potential.
People recover when society invests in their future instead of their punishment.
Drug Checking LA & Harm Reduction Research
Morgan's work combines lived experience with cutting-edge research focused on overdose prevention, drug checking, medication treatment and evidence-based drug policy.
Through research and advocacy, she works to ensure policies follow science rather than stigma.
About Brave Recovery: The Women Impacted
Twelve women. Twelve stories. One challenge to everything we think we know about addiction, recovery, prevention, grief and hope.
From mothers and advocates to researchers, journalists, counselors, authors and community leaders, each woman featured in Brave Recovery: The Women Impacted reveals a deeper truth: recovery is not simply about individual choices. It is about whether families, communities and systems create the conditions that allow people to heal.
These stories are not only about survival.
They are about what becomes possible when people are seen, supported and given the opportunity to reclaim their futures.