From Addiction to Advocacy
Morgan Godvin’s world changed on March 28, 2014 when police arrested her for the death of her longtime friend, Justin.
She and Justin were both addicted to heroin. She had sold him a gram of the drug that he overdosed on. The police arrested her for delivery resulting in his death.
Godvin spent four years behind bars as a result, starting out at the Multnomah County jail before being transferred to a federal prison outside Oakland, CA. The experience made her reflect on many things — but especially the nature of addiction and the flawed ways in which American society deals with it.
“I lost so many friends to opioid overdoses. I went to prison for that. But it’s not a criminal matter – it’s a public health crisis,” she said.
Godvin knew that she wanted to be a part of changing the conversation around addiction and that higher education would be an essential first step. She made the decision to attend PSU while still in prison. Her best friend, Ian, was a student and helped to get her enrolled. Over the phone, she told him what to write on her application. He paid the fees with his credit card, and she paid him back when she got out. The transition was quick and easy.
“I went from prison one week where the guards scream and cuss at you, to sitting in front of a professor hearing an introductory lecture,” she said. “PSU was just so incredibly welcoming."
Today at Portland State, Godvin is double-majoring in public health and Spanish and plans to attend law school. Backed with the knowledge that involvement with the criminal justice system undermines people's abilities to establish long-term recovery, she wants to work on reforming drug policies and the American prison system.
In the OHSU-PSU School of Public Health, she’s gaining an academic perspective that will help advance her mission. She’s also gaining hands-on experience as a concierge at Central City Concern, a nonprofit agency that assists people affected by houselessness, poverty and addiction.
“I want public health to be the lens through which I see the world,” she said.
Scholarship support has allowed Godvin to pursue opportunities that she wouldn’t otherwise have been able to explore. Last summer, for example, she received a Benjamin A. Gilman scholarship that helped fund a summer-long public health internship in Argentina. This year, she received a $5,000 Autzen Foundation Scholarship that will cover the cost of tuition while she works a public policy internship with Central City Concern.
"I have a mission that's bigger than me."
As these opportunities continue to open doors for Godvin, she is more committed than ever before to being a voice for systemic change.
“I have a mission that’s bigger than me,” she said. “Now that I have such a clearly defined life purpose, everything else becomes fairly easy. I know what I have to do.”