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In Township Ravaged By Opioids, Educators Create Program To Help Kids Cope (WBUR)

 

"When a child is living with a parent who is addicted to drugs, they are likely experiencing a lot of emotional, or even physical, trauma and stress, says Kendra Cram, who was hired by the Minford school district last year to teach elementary school kids about trauma. 'When that's happening, they're not able to access their prefrontal cortex, which allows them to retain information and gain new information. So they're not able to learn math or reading or writing during that school day,' Cram says. 'They're thinking about survival skills and getting enough food to eat or having their basic needs met. So the trauma is affecting their academic outcomes and their development.'" Read more.

Judge Rules Planned Supervised Injection Site Does Not Violate Federal Drug Law (NPR)
 
Last week we saw a judicial win for harm reduction. "A judge has ruled that a Philadelphia nonprofit group's plan to open the first site in the U.S. where people can use illegal opioids under medical supervision does not violate federal drug laws, delivering a major blow to Justice Department lawyers who have been working to block the facility." Read more. 
 

From pills to fentanyl: Three personal stories that show how the opioid crisis evolved (Washington Post)


The following article chronicles the three waves that characterized the opioid epidemic. Featuring three personal stories remembered by surviving friends and family members, it provides a timeline of how the opioid epidemic evolved from pills to heroin to fentanyl. The article touches on many important points, including how institutions failed to rehabilitate the people who misuse drugs and the role drug companies played in creating the epidemic. Read More
 

The Class of 2000 'Could Have Been Anything.' Then the Opioid Crisis Hit (The New York Times)


This moving piece features the stories from the Minford, Ohio high school class of 2000. By the time Minford students entered their final year, opioids had permeated almost every aspect of their life. The article is structured as an interactive yearbook where students speak on their experiences around opioids and substance use disorder. Read More

Newsom Proposes Expansive New Strategy to Combat Drug Addiction Spike in State Prisons (KQED)


The prison system is no exception to the current opioid crisis. Following a recent "spike" in opioid overdoses and two deaths at San Quentin State Prison, Governor Gavin Newsom is pushing to allocate more than $233 million in the governor's budget towards substance use treatment in prisons over the next two years. In this article, Clinical Lead, Dr. Matt Willis commented, "The value of this goes way beyond prisons," by focusing on treatment, "this will save lives and money." Read more