“It’s going from Central Square in Cambridge over the Mass Ave Bridge and then into the Boston Common. Both cities are heavily affected by drugs and alcohol, and most have a deep sense of community. Families have been torn apart, and they’ve also been brought back together.”
SPECIAL FEATURE: FENTANYL IN THE FAMILY
Ben Westhoff’s dive into the ‘deadliest wave of the opioid epidemic’ is the most frightening book of the year, and it’s mandatory reading
SPECIAL FEATURE: SEX, DRUGS, AND FENTANYL
Among the nightmares of an unprecedented epidemic, sex work gets more dangerous for opioid addicts
EXCERPT: REAL PEOPLE REAL RECOVERY BY ERIC SPOFFORD & PIERS KANIUKA
While the opioid epidemic is the most glaring effect, it’s certainly not the only symptom of our societal malaise. Things are getting worse across the board—suicide, homelessness, mass incarceration, ecological disaster. Taken together, all of these factors are making life in 21st century America increasingly untenable.
F.I.G.H.T. SUBOXONE: REAL TALK ABOUT MEDICATION-ASSISTED TREATMENT
I got people telling me, “Yes, I’m in recovery, but who the fuck are you to tell somebody how they should recover? Who the fuck are you to tell somebody that they aren’t in recovery because they are on medication?” And I’m like, “Because they’re fucking not! What the fuck are you talking about?”
SACKING SACKLER: TUFTS STUDENTS WORK TO EXPOSE ADMINISTRATION’S THIRST FOR OPIOID BLOOD MONEY
“I have very close family members who have been directly affected by the opiate crisis … They struggle with addictions that were brought on by the exact marketing tactics that the Sacklers used to make billions of dollars.”
F.I.G.H.T. SUBOXONE: HOW DID WE GET HERE?
By 2014, it was a full-court press, with Suboxone lobbyists pushing more than 10 bills on Beacon Hill
EXIT DRUGS IN THE GREEN ZONE
From the doc’s office to the dispensary, Mass continues to fight opioids with cannabis
DIARRHEA DIARIES AND DEAD PUSHERS
Like “The Wall,” it’s stupid and simple and perfect for Trump, who has been praising Rodrigo Duterte, whose drug war has killed more than 12,000 people, according to Human Rights Watch. And, of course, Trump’s Attorney General Jeff Sessions probably hates weed more than anything—except Trump, who has been calling Sessions “Mr. Magoo.”
VIOLENCE DOESN’T HAPPEN IN A VACUUM
It seems like the bad news never ceases at the Massachusetts Department of Children & Families.
