No surprise here.

New research shows that when police get suspected drug abusers treatment rather than arresting them, those people are less likely to abuse drugs or commit drug-related crimes in the future.

https://theconversation.com/offering-treatment-to-drug-users-instead-of-arresting-them-reduces-crime-and-addiction-new-research-into-police-diversion-program-shows-212527

#criminaljustice #crime #recovery

Was the lemmyverse/threadiverse aware that Mastodon has been convulsed for the past 2 days?

https://geddit.social/post/25976

My column about apps on Mastodon appears in print today. I'm told it did very well on the web after publishing on Friday. It got MANY boosts and Favorites here on Mastodon (thank you!), so I assume that's where a lot of traffic came from. It'll be very interesting to see what kind of print-reader feedback I get via email.

This is a gift link to the story, so it should get at least some of you past the paywall if you don't have a subscription. If not, use archive.ph.

https://www.houstonchronicle.com/business/article/twitter-mastadon-elon-musk-apps-migration-17746197.php?utm_source=marketing&utm_medium=copy-url-link&utm_campaign=article-share&hash=aHR0cHM6Ly93d3cuaG91c3RvbmNocm9uaWNsZS5jb20vYnVzaW5lc3MvYXJ0aWNsZS90d2l0dGVyLW1hc3RhZG9uLWVsb24tbXVzay1hcHBzLW1pZ3JhdGlvbi0xNzc0NjE5Ny5waHA=&time=MTY3NTAxMzY5ODkxMg==&rid=YmE1NjU5MDMtMDM4OS00MDYwLWE1YzItNTYwNzYwZDQ2NDc5&sharecount=MQ==

With each new surge of Mastodon users, I feel the need to point out:

1. Welcome!

2. There is a learning curve here, but most people find it short and not very steep. Play around, explore. You'll get it.

3. Lots of people are willing to help.

4. Yes, it's different than Twitter. Sometimes in good ways, sometimes not. But you'll figure it out.

5. With surges especially, things sometimes get slow/glitchy, but they usually get fixed pretty quick.

Be patient.