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Addiction Recovery Channel: Drug Overdose Death and Harm Reduction: the Vermont Overdose Prevention Network's Position 01/30/2023

From Ed Baker:

Key members of VOPN discuss Network views and policies related to preventing drug overdose death in Vermont. With guests Theresa Vezina, Mike Selick, and Joe Magee.

Mike Selick is the Associate Director of Capacity building at National Harm Reduction Coalition. He has been a community organizer and advocate for human rights focusing on police accountability, inequality, drug use, sex work, homelessness, HIV, and Hepatitis C for more than 15 years. Prior to joining the organization 7 years ago, he worked at New York City harm reduction programs, first with a focus on public policy and peer training, and then as the Director of Services at a South Bronx syringe service program. Mike earned his Masters of Social Work with a concentration in Public Policy from Columbia University. Mike is currently based out of Burlington, Vermont.

Theresa Vezina is the Executive Director at Vermont CARES, the state's largest, longest running AIDS Service Organization providing Harm Reduction services in 11 of the 14 counties in Vermont. Theresa is a leader in our state, a person with lived and living experience of drug use and a proud of it. Her journey away from a life of self-destructive use and chaos began close to 20 years ago. She has devoted her life to working with and for people who use drugs. She has been in the harm reduction field for more than a decade and comes with a deep respect and love of the work. 

Joe Magee is a harm reduction advocate and person in recovery, working to breakdown stigma around addiction and mental health. He is also a Burlington City Councilor working to bring harm reduction practices into municipal policymaking.

Addiction Recovery Channel: Interview with Maia Szalavitz 12/13/2022

From Ed Baker:

Maia Szalavitz is the author, most recently, of Undoing Drugs: The Untold Story of Harm Reduction and the Future of Addiction, which is the first history of the movement aimed at focusing drug policy on minimizing harms, not highs.

Her previous New York Times bestseller, Unbroken Brain: A Revolutionary New Way of Understanding Addiction wove together neuroscience and social science with her personal experience of heroin addiction. It won the 2018 media award from the National Institute on Drug Abuse.

She writes regularly for the New York Times and has written for numerous other publications including TIME, Wired, Elle, the Nation, Vice, the Guardian and Scientific American. Her 2006 book, Help at Any Cost: How the Troubled Teen Industry Cons Parents and Hurts Kids, was the first to expose the damage caused by “tough love” youth treatment and helped spur Congressional hearings.

She has also authored or co-authored five other books, including the classic on child trauma, The Boy Who Was Raised as a Dog, with Dr. Bruce D. Perry. With Dr. Perry, she has also written Born for Love: Why Empathy Is Essential— And Endangered, which laid out why empathy is essential for social trust and how inequality can erode it. With Dr. Joseph Volpicelli, she wrote Recovery Options: The Complete Guide, the first evidence-based guide to addiction treatment.

She lives with her husband and two squeaky cats in New York City. Twitter: @maiasz

Addiction Recovery Channel: Overdose Prevention Centers (OPC), What the Research Is Telling Us, With Dr. Brandon Marshall 10/13/2022

From Ed Baker:

Dr. Brandon Marshall is a Professor of Epidemiology at the Brown University School of Public Health, and a recognized researcher placing specific emphasis on harm reduction interventions and overdose prevention. Dr. Marshall and his team evaluate programs and policies that aim to improve the health and well-being of people who use drugs.

Dr. Marshall reviews current research and discusses the promise of OPCs in the USA.

Addiction Recovery Channel: International Overdose Awareness Day 2022 - Statehouse Rally Preview 08/18/2022

From Ed Baker:

Ed Baker highlights International Overdose Awareness Day (August 31), and a rally on the Statehouse lawn honoring our loved ones taken from us by drug overdose and advocating for expanded Harm Reduction services, including Overdose Prevention Sites, in Vermont.

To learn more about the IOAD, visit www.overdoseday.com

Addiction Recovery Channel: Interview with Nora Volkow 07/11/2022

From Ed Baker:

Join Ed Baker and his noted guest, Dr. Nora Volkow, as they discuss the consistently accelerating velocity of drug overdose death in America. The relationship between the deadly force of stigma and the unprecedented lethality of fentanyl will be explored. Current Harm Reduction Interventions and their necessity and effectiveness during this time of public health crisis are discussed. The effectiveness and potential of Overdose Prevention Sites is investigated.

Addiction Recovery Channel: OnPoint NYC - An in-depth look into the first sanctioned Overdose Prevention Centers in the United States 06/24/2022

From Ed Baker:

Kailin See is the Senior Director of Programs for both the Washington Heights CORNER Project and the New York Harm Reduction Education Project, serving Washington Heights, East Harlem and the Bronx in New York City. She was the program and development lead for the historic opening of the first two sanctioned Overdose Prevention Centers in the United States.

Kailin explains, in detail, what these Overdose Prevention Centers are, how they work, who they serve, and what their accomplishments have been over their first six months in NYC.

Addiction Recovery Channel: Public Health Alert Fentanyl Overdose Death 04/08/2022

From Ed Baker:

2021 has seen an unprecedented increase in tragic drug overdose deaths, both countrywide and in Vermont. This is clearly due to the contamination of the unregulated drug supply with fentanyl, the most lethal opioid on earth. Heroin, methamphetamine and other stimulants, and counterfeit pharmaceutical opioids and benzodiazepines contain often lethal amounts of deadly fentanyl. ARC Host, Ed Baker, clearly explains this alarming situation, its deadly power and urgency. Ed outlines resources available to people who use drugs, resources specifically designed to offer supports which will keep them alive.

Addiction Recovery Channel: Interview with James Rauh and Roneet Lev 04/08/2022

From Ed Baker:

Join Ed and his noted guests James Rauh and Roneet Lev as they explore the gravity of our current overdose fatality emergency. James tells the story of his personal loss and his pursuit of fentanyl manufacturers all the way to China, which has led to his current efforts in Washington to have fentanyl declared a Weapon of Mass Destruction. Dr. Lev shares the urgency of what she experiences on the front lines engaged in emergency medical care, while she explains the dynamics of addiction, the lethal potential of fentanyl and some of her initiatives to create effective responses to this crisis in her community.

Addiction Recovery Channel: Interview with Johann Hari 04/03/2022

From Ed Baker:

Johann Hari is a British writer, a thinker and a communicator, who has authored three New York Times best-selling books that have been translated into 38 languages. His first book, "Chasing the Scream: the First and Last Days of the War on Drugs," a pivotal work about addiction, recovery and the “War On Drugs,” is the focus of this show.

Johann’s ideas about the immense importance of connection are discussed, as is the relentless “War On Drugs” and its innumerable casualties. We investigate Johann’s experiences in other countries’ where their “War On Drugs” have ended, resulting in remarkable life-saving approaches to people who use drugs.

The discussion will at all times be informed by the overwhelming situation we face in America today, with a beautiful neighbor dying of drug overdose death every 5 minutes. We are also joined by Daniel Franklin to discuss how Jenna’s Promise, the recovery village model, and what is happening in the Lamoille Valley exemplify how connection and community are creating an environment where people can thrive and recover together.

Addiction Recovery Channel: Daniel Franklin Announces Recovery Vermont's Leadership Conference 02/25/2022

From Daniel Franklin:

"In this segment, Daniel Franklin, vice president of VAMHAR and Recovery Vermont, tells the story of the founding of Jenna's Promise and the creation of the recovery village being built in Vermont's Lamoille Valley. He shares his vision for the future of the recovery field and the importance of connection and community to recovery from addictions and other challenges. Franklin then announces Recovery Vermont's Leadership conference taking place on April 4th, which will feature Sam Quinones, Johann Hari, and Kesha Ram, and will spotlight the recovery village as a promising model for community responses to the addiction epidemic."

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