Everyone Agrees Opioid Epidemic Is A Problem. But Ideas On How To Treat It Are Hotly Debated.
Clean needle exchanges, for example, often bring opinions on either side. "We don't have a free-case-of-beer-a-month program for alcoholics," says Maricopa County Attorney Bill Montgomery. But others point to research that shows the programs are helpful.
NPR:
Fight The Opioid Epidemic, All Agree. But What Works Best?
It's no secret why drug users come to George Patterson in a mall parking lot just outside Phoenix to get their clean needles, syringes and other supplies on Tuesday afternoons, instead of heading to the pharmacy down the street. "It's really low-barrier the way we are doing it," Patterson says. "All you have to do is find us." (Stone, 12/19)
In other news on the crisis —
Boston Globe:
Aunt Who Saved Family Torn By Addiction Seeks Yuletide Help
In what has emerged as one of the nation’s largest public health threats, the problem of drug addiction — and opioid dependence, specifically — has in just a few years cost thousands of Massachusetts residents their lives. ...Fortunately for some, there are relatives willing to step in before the state takes at-risk children away from their families. (Tangney, 12/19)
