NJ Spotlight published the following article on 2/19/2014. To read the full article, click here.
Profile: Advocate Can Point to Results in Updating, Improving Drug Laws
Andrew Kitchenman | February 19, 2014
As director of the most prominent group advocating for changes to the state’s drug laws, Scotti has built up a track record for achieving results, including the law allowing needle exchanges for intravenous drug users and New Jersey’s “good Samaritan law” offering immunity to people who seek emergency assistance for those who have drug overdoses.Finding her calling: Scotti worked in different fields — including managing a sporting goods store — while she worked her way through college, graduating from the University of Pennsylvania with a degree in folklore.
Scotti took the listening and interviewing skills that taught her and applied them to her next position, as a researcher for the University of Pennsylvania’s Center for Studies of Addiction in the HIV Prevention Research Division.
In that job, she visited high-poverty areas of Philadelphia and asked for volunteers to share their experiences with drug addiction, as a way of developing interventions that would lower the risk of exposure to HIV.