substance use

Host Ed Baker is joined by Senator Tanya Vyhovsky to discuss the public health crisis happening in Burlington and across Vermont.

For more information visit https://legislature.vermont.gov/people/single/2024/37410

From Ed Baker:

Ed Baker and Kimberly Blake highlight International Overdose Awareness Day (August 31), and a rally at Burlington's City Hall Park honoring loved ones taken 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

From Ed Baker:

Grey is a senior policy counsel for the Drug Policy Alliance, which is the leading organization in the United States working to end the drug war, repair its harms, and build a non-punitive, equitable, and regulated drug market. Prior to his work for DPA he practiced law as a public defender for over a decade and served as legislative staff for several members of Congress in Washington, DC.

David Mickenberg is a partner at the Burlington law firm Mickenberg, Dunn & Smith, and has been actively involved in drug policy reform since 1997. He started his career at the Drug Policy Alliance where he worked on political efforts to reduce the harms associated with the war on drugs, including a multiyear effort to allow Vermonters to access methadone treatment. He currently works on a variety of public policy campaigns including an effort to decriminalize drugs in favor of a public health approach; a push to decriminalize sex work; legislation to increase the rights of working Vermonters; and efforts to increase benefits and protections for older Vermonters. David played an active role in the establishment of Vermont's medical cannabis program; legislation to decriminalize cannabis; legislation to legalize home grow, possession of cannabis, and expungement of previous cannabis convictions; and legislation to establish a regulated system for cannabis sales.

Guests: David Mickenberg and Grey Gardner (remote). Christopher Miller, Activism Manager at Ben & Jerry's.

For more information visit www.drugpolicy.org | www.decrimvermont.org

From Ed Baker:

Dr. Joseph D’Orazio, a noted expert, discusses the pharmacology of xylazine, the clinical course and clinical management of overdose, the complications presented by fentanyl/xylazine combination, xylazine wounds and wound care, and the growing prevalence of xylazine in the unregulated drug supply.

Dr. Joseph D'Orazio is an emergency physician, medical toxicologist, and addiction medicine specialist at the Lewis Katz School of Medicine at Temple University. He cares for Temple patients in a variety of settings, including the emergency department, an inpatient consultative service for addiction medicine and toxicology, the TRUST Clinic (an office-based opioid treatment program), and Begin the Turn (Temple's low-barrier access street-side medicine program). Dr. D’Orazio is a medical toxicologist for the Poison Control Center at Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia and is regarded as a regional expert regarding substance use and substance use disorder treatment in Philadelphia.