The Commonsense
of Ginny Burton: Former Addict
Reforms System
In the video below, 58 minutes in, Tucker Carlson talks about what is happening everyday on our streets in America (and Canada):
” . . . most people understand drugs in terms of their niece living on the street or their nephew or college roommate’s son or their own daughter who dies of a fentanyl, and the truth is it’s probably easier, less expensive, and much more effective to deal with the drug problem on the level of experience, which is to say in your daily life, than it is on some international level (the first half of this video).
“Root causes are hard to pin down . . . but no one needs to theorize about what a nodding fentanyl addict looks like or someone having some kind of manic episode on the subway because he smoked too much meth.
“That is something everybody understands—and authorities local, state, and federal have made basically zero effort to fix those problems for the last 30 years, and as a result, hundreds and hundreds and hundreds of thousands of Americans have died and a much greater number have had their lives destroyed.
“For a time, a long time, Ginny Burton was one of those. She’s from the state of Washington. She was addicted to drugs. She was arrested multiple times. In fact, this is what she looked like. This is a mug shot from Ginny Burton. There she is at the height of her drug addiction.
“Look familiar? Our parks and our sidewalks in every American city are full of people who look exactly like that. The difference is that Ginny Burton recovered completely.
“We’ve spoken to her before because she has a perspective that people really ought to hear, and that perspective is what is it like to be the victim of all of this, of these root causes, and what can we do to help people like her, and like your niece . . .
The entire video is interesting, but to hear the common sense from Ginny, go to the 58 minute mark.
Ginny Burton: ” . . . the common response from a voter or a taxpayer, or just your average community member, when they are walking over bodies, where they have a family member that’s affected . . . I have been contacted by people all over the world when they saw my pictures and their question is always, ‘What can I do?’
“. . . if you’ve never been strung out on drugs, how in the hell are you going to know where to start? Well, you don’t.
“In order to do that, we have to have the right people in the right places, and I truly believe that the only way for us to redevelop a system is to influence the lives of those who make up that system. We cannot have a top-down solution.
“Honestly, if you haven’t been to hell, you don’t know how to navigate your way out of it.
“We can’t expect, and I try to not talk about, or think about how ineffective the majority of our political leaders—I have a hard time calling them leaders—but I have a really hard time removing myself from being pissed off all the time because I have a hard time looking at the destruction of human life.
“And so my anger has to be fueled appropriately. I’ve got to be able to help the people that make up the system change their lives. Then, when we show the numbers and the cost effectiveness, then maybe we can do a shift.
“. . . you know what makes the most sense to me being able to contribute to the thriving of the people who would be released from institutions. (Ginny works in Tennessee in prison reform.)
“We have disincentivized arrest and accountability, and that is the one thing that enables us to actually be able to change a nation . . .
“We have to understand that all of these people are somebody’s sons, daughters, mothers, fathers, brothers, sisters, and they’re our neighbours.
“We can either have them living next to us in a tent and dying in our front yard, or we can do something to actually influence them to be able to navigate society successfully.
“So, thank you for having me, Tucker. I really appreciate your attention to this.”
****
Here is Ginny interviewing someone who goes into the prisons to listen, to mentor, someone who is making a difference:
Allison: “I take their prayer cards home and scan them so I know their names. I keep up with their stories . . . so hundreds . . . but there’s a handful of women that I’ve watched and kept closer contact with that have gone through it and gotten out and then seen their transitions.”
Ginny: “Do they give you prayer cards every time they come into the service and you’re the one that manages all those cards?”
Allison: “I do.”
Ginny: “And you read every one of those cards, every one, and you spend time praying for each one of those on every one of them.”
Allison: “I do. I save them all in a box.”
Allison Barnes, a volunteer and mentor working with women inside a maximum-security prison in Tennessee, has seen firsthand how addiction, trauma, and isolation impact incarcerated women. She shares insights into:
🔹 The devastating reality of drugs inside prison—including Suboxone dependency and withdrawal
🔹 How 75% of incarcerated women are mothers and the heartbreak of family separation
🔹 The power of faith, mentorship, and human connection in rehabilitation
🔹 Why so many women want to break free from addiction but struggle to escape it
🔹 How to get involved and support those seeking a second chance
Despite the challenges, Allison has witnessed transformations and hope in the darkest places. She encourages us to get involved.
Allison: “I would tell people to to get involved, to have a heart, to lean in. There’s a lot of people needing help right now and not enough people to help . . . be kind and patient. I would highly encourage helping in prison or the homeless, any way you can.”
****
Albert Einstein, through channel for the Council of Love, Linda Dillon, to Dawn, a participant at the Joy Conference in Florida, 2016 :
“You are taking care to go to the prisons, sweet Dawn, and to say, ‘You are Loved.’ That is the healing because you are saying,
‘You are worthy.
‘You may have forgotten that you are worthy so I am reminding you.’
“And that is the most powerful action of Love there is, and all beings of so many different races and types are imprisoned in the belief that they are not worthy, and how can that be when they are the Pattern of the Mother?
“Your work is stellar. Do not change it. Do not change it.”
Also, in Canada, November 2025:
Canada’s federal prison watchdog, Correctional Investigator Dr. Ivan Zinger, is leaving his post two years early, citing frustration with the government’s inaction on systemic prison reforms, particularly around mental health care.
In his final annual report, Zinger highlighted deficiencies including outdated policies, inadequate staff training, poor mental health screening, limited post-release programs, and an overemphasis on security over treatment.
He criticized the Correctional Service of Canada (CSC) for rejecting recommendations to transfer long-term psychiatric inmates to community hospitals and for planning a $1.3-billion in-house hospital, which he called a “profound misallocation” of resources.
Zinger warned that ongoing disregard for his office’s recommendations will likely result in court-mandated reforms. Despite his frustrations, he expressed satisfaction that his reports are being used in litigation to compel systemic improvements.
In the podcast below, Mark Hovath of 
