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HARD DRUG TRUTHS: END MANDATORY MINIMUM DRUG SENTENCES
The opioid crisis is dire enough without adding insult to injury. With almost 12,000 deaths from overdoses in Massachusetts since the year 2000—increasing sharply in recent years with fentanyl-laced...
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SIF SPACE: WILL MASS BE THE FIRST STATE WITH SAFE INJECTION FACILITIES?
A bill proposed on Beacon Hill would expand statewide harm reduction services to include safe injection facilities (SIFs). The Act to Authorize Public Health Workers to Pursue New Measures to Reduce...
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DRUG CHECKING AS SELF-HELP HARM REDUCTION
Photos by Baynard Woods With doofus drug czar and vindictive DOJ, citizens left to address opioid crisis on their own In October, Donald Trump declared the opioid crisis a public health emergency,...
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DIRTY OLD BOSTON: HEROIN DAZE
An abridged trudge through Boston’s long, repetitive history of opiate abuse From January to September of 2017, the Massachusetts Department of Public Health (DPH) confirmed 932 opioid-related...
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EXIT DRUGS IN THE GREEN ZONE
From the doc’s office to the dispensary, Mass continues to fight opioids with cannabis The opioid crisis in Massachusetts is costly. As has been the war on drugs. From the financial toll to the...
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F.I.G.H.T. SUBOXONE: REAL TALK ABOUT MEDICATION-ASSISTED TREATMENT
An interview with Eric Spofford After years of struggling with addiction to opioids and heading straight for the grave or incarceration in his early adult life, Eric Spofford got sober in 2006....
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EXCERPT: REAL PEOPLE REAL RECOVERY BY ERIC SPOFFORD & PIERS KANIUKA
We recently published an interview with Eric Spofford done by our partners at the Boston Institute for Nonprofit Journalism, specifically for their F.I.G.H.T. Opiates program. An outspoken addiction...
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SPECIAL FEATURE: SEX, DRUGS, AND FENTANYL
Among the nightmares of an unprecedented epidemic, sex work gets more dangerous for opioid addicts Nikki got in the truck after agreeing to exchange sex for $50. She didn’t notice that the...
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THE POLICY POLICE: CANNABIS COP AND GOP COHORT CHALLENGE CANDIDATES AND...
PHOTOS BY DEREK KOUYOUMJIAN It’s hard to miss a guy in a 10-gallon cowboy hat with a grey stache sporting a jacket promoting the legalization of heroin. When the person wearing it is a retired...
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SPECIAL BOSTON THROWBACK: THE LIFE AND DEATH OF HAKIM JAMAL
On May 1, 1973, in the living room of 113 Townsend St in Roxbury, Hakim Jamal was listening to the radio, joking and laughing with friends. Next to him was a loaded shotgun. Around 11 pm there was a...
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