In this week's Allow Us to Explain, we talk about opioid use. Join our social issues intern, Ronan C., and Dr. Helena Hansen (UCLA, author of Whiteout: How Racial Capitalism Changed the Color of Opioids in America) as we discuss various aspects of this complex topic. Including the history of opioids and opiates in America; the statistics surrounding opioid use; the rise of fentanyl; the stigma of addiction; the use of harm reduction programs, and more.
If you or someone close to you needs help for a substance use disorder, talk to your doctor or call SAMHSA’s National Helpline at 1-800-662-HELP or go to SAMHSA’s Behavioral Health Treatment Services Locator at http://findtreatment.samhsa.gov/
Works Cited
America’s opioid crisis: the need for an integrated public health approach, Blanco, Carlos; Wiley, Tisha R. A.; Lloyd, Jacqueline J.; Lopez, Marsha F.; Volkow, Nora D., 2020. http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK458653/
Evidence on Strategies for Addressing the Opioid Epidemic, Phillips JK, Ford MA, and Bonnie RJ, editors, 2017. https://www.nature.com/articles/s41398-020-0847-1#citeas
Legal, Regulated Heroin Could Have Saved Philip Seymour Hoffman, Valerie Vande Panne, The Daily Beast, February 28, 2014, https://www.thedailybeast.com/legal-regulated-heroin-could-have-saved-philip-seymour-hoffman
Safe Spaces for Users, Cara Tabachnick, Stanford Social Innovation Review, Spring 2019, https://ssir.org/articles/entry/Wary_of_an_Opioid_Epidemic_Europe_Pushes_Safe_Sites_for_Drug_Use
When Pain Becomes an Addiction, Newsroom, Carina Walters, July 4, 2023, https://www.newsroom.co.nz/ideasroom/when-pain-relief-becomes-an-addiction