America’s Approach to Drug Addiction Isn’t Working, So What Should We Do?

KQED's Forum

KQED

Politics, News, News Commentary

4.6 • 656 Ratings

🗓️ 20 July 2023

⏱️ 57 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

In his latest article for The Atlantic, Sam Quinones writes that America’s shift toward treatment instead of jail time for drug abuse “is both well intentioned and out of date, given the massive street supplies of fentanyl and meth. It is failing just about everyone.” He argues that instead of waiting for addicts to voluntarily enter rehab, the legal system should force them to go. Quinones is a journalist who has covered the drug trade for over a decade and published two books on the subject: “The Least of Us: True Tales of America and Hope in the Time of Fentanyl and Meth” and “Dreamland: The True Tale of America’s Opiate Epidemic.” We’ll talk about how to address the nation’s ever-more challenging drug crisis that we see playing out on our streets and in our families. Guests: Sam Quinones, journalist and author. His recent piece in The Atlantic is titled "America's Approach to Addiction Has Gone Off the Rails.” His books include "The Least of Us: True Tales of America and Hope in the Time of Fentanyl and Meth" and "Dreamland: The True Tale of America's Opiate Epidemic." Vitka Eisen, president and CEO, HealthRIGHT 360, San Francisco's largest drug treatment provider Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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0:00.0	Support for KQBD Podcasts comes from Rancho LaPuerta, a wellness resort 45 minutes outside of San Diego.
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0:16.3	Rancho LePuerta.com
0:17.8	Support for Forum comes from Broadway SF, presenting Parade, the musical revival based on a
0:24.0	true story. From three-time Tony-winning composer Jason Robert Brown comes the story of Leo and Lucille Frank,
0:31.9	a newlywed Jewish couple struggling to make a life in Georgia. When Leo is accused of an unspeakable crime, it propels them
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0:58.8	From KQED.
1:00.3	From KQED in San Francisco, I'm Alexis Madrigal.
1:15.9	Here's the heart of today's show.
1:17.9	Journalist Sam Cignonis has spent more than a decade chronicling the expansion of synthetic drugs.
1:23.5	Now fentanyl and methamphetamine are being produced at a scale and potency that would have
1:28.2	been unimaginable even 10 years ago.
1:31.1	Those drugs are meeting a public health approach to treating drug addiction that's become
1:35.0	known as harm reduction, which grew out of the AIDS crisis terrible impacts on intravenous
1:40.1	drug users.
1:41.5	Canonis wants to challenge the ways that places like San Francisco are treating
1:45.3	drug users, arguing that the changes in the drug supply demand different tactics. We'll talk
1:51.4	with him and a leading harm reduction advocate after this news.
2:06.1	Welcome to Forum. I'm Alexis Madrigal.
2:11.9	We know there's a drug crisis. The part of it you've heard about the most concerns fentanyl,
	...

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