Pillar guide
The AI Identity Problem: Can AI Agents Hijack Your Digital Identity?
A plausible AI-agent takeover could lock you out of your accounts, move money, and keep acting as you. What is possible now, and how do we prevent it?
A Vision of Hope Media
Insights
A publication for honest analysis, lived experience, and the systems questions that shape recovery, reentry, and public policy.
Flagship essays
Pillar guides
Long-form entry points for AI identity risk and drug-policy reform — start here, then browse the full series.
Pillar guide
Drug Legalization Series Part 1: Drug Legalization Isn’t Endorsement. It’s Regulation and Harm Reduction.
Drug legalization isn’t endorsement. Part 1 explains why punishment fails, why reentry is deadly, and why harm reduction saves lives.
Latest essays
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When the Internet Is in Our Brains
How silent biological interfaces turn internet search into instinct, and what happens when machine intelligence feels identical to personal memory.
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Drug Legalization Series Part 32: How to Talk About Drug Policy Without Losing the Public
Part 32 explains how drug policy messaging works when it uses addiction stigma language carefully, relies on person first language addiction principles, strengthens harm reduction messaging, and meets the public where public opinion on drug legalization actually is.
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How DAI Scores You Into Max, Medium, and Minimum
Wisconsin DAI classifies people with a point-based custody instrument. Age, a ten-year record, and the current felony add up before a job ever gets a chance to knock one off.
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Fear and Faith Cannot Live in the Same Place
From MSDF to Corrections Today, Milwaukee groups, and Better Moose. The money is tight. Fear and faith cannot live in the same place.
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Flock, Axon, and Motorola Are Still the Same Industry
Swapping Flock cameras for Axon or Motorola does not end networked license-plate surveillance. The industry is the product. Ask lawmakers to take a position.
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How the Machines Actually Take the Work: Robotics, AI, and Building the Post-Work World
Software in data centers was only the first half of automation. From robotic surgery and driverless freight to humanoid construction, embodied AI is taking over physical toil. Here is how we govern it and how the next generation can build the future.
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Drug Legalization Series Part 31: Federal, State, and Local Pathways - How Reform Actually Moves Under Existing Law
Part 31 explains how the marijuana rescheduling process, Medicaid 1115 waiver authority, local cannabis control, buprenorphine prescribing rules, and treatment on demand show that reform can already move under existing law.
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What I Mean When I Talk About Adopting a New Identity
Why abandoning an old self without building a destination leaves you wandering aimlessly, how to challenge internal labels, and the three questions that create a new life.
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Flock Cameras in Wisconsin: Who Votes, Who Pays, and What's Coming Next
Flock Safety cameras are spreading across Wisconsin towns while councils, sheriffs, and residents fight over who approves them, what they record, and where AI search goes next.
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Moral Injury vs PTSD: A Framework Map for Peer Leaders
Plain-language map of moral injury vs PTSD for peer-led groups (including veterans circles): definitions, overlap, facilitator boundaries, and when to refer to VA or clinical care.
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What to Say When a Loved One Relapses
Plain language for families after a relapse: words that keep dignity and accountability, what to avoid, boundaries you can keep, and how to point toward help.
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Who Gets Rich When AI Does the Work?
If AI and robots do more of the work, the people who own the computers, the power plants, and the robot fleets get the money. A monthly check alone is not the same thing as owning a share.
Topics
Recovery & Reentry
Essays on addiction recovery, prison reentry, identity-based healing, and evidence-informed program design.
Artificial Intelligence & Society
Long-form analysis of AI, identity, labor, trust, and the social systems reshaped by machine intelligence.
Leadership & Systems
Essays on leadership, organizational design, and the systems thinking required to build durable change.
Justice & Public Policy
Policy essays on criminal justice, drug reform, harm reduction, and evidence-based governance — outcomes, tradeoffs, and reform that holds up.
Purpose & Identity
Essays on identity, purpose, transformation, and becoming who you intend to be — setbacks, redemption, curriculum, and daily practice.
Books & Writing
Essays on memoir craft, reading lists, and honest storytelling in recovery culture — books that mirror hard change for programs and readers.
For program directors
Licensing ReturnPath for recovery, reentry, or treatment settings? Explore the curriculum hub or send a message.
Series
Artificial Intelligence & Society
Essays on how AI affects identity, trust, institutions, and human accountability when software gains power through permission, speed, and scale.
Drug Legalization Series
Andrew Drasen's multi-part essay series on drug legalization, regulation, harm reduction, reentry, and evidence-based drug policy reform.
Wisconsin Justice & Reentry
An honest look at Wisconsin justice: prisons, reentry, supervision, laws, lawmakers, agents, cops, defenders, and policies that fail or hold.