213: Embracing Recovery and Losing Anonymity with Sam Quinones
Episode description
America is in the midst of a new drug crisis. Earlier this year, the CDC reported a staggering 107,000 overdose deaths in 2021. That's one every five minutes. It's up almost 15% from 2020 and nearly 70% of those deaths involved fentanyl.
On today's episode, Duane speaks with Sam Quinones who has been sounding the alarm for years. A journalist and storyteller, Sam is a former LA Times reporter and author of four acclaimed books of narrative nonfiction, including New York Times bestseller and National Book Critics Circle Award winner, Dreamland: The True Tale of America's Opiate Epidemic. She’s also the author of the National Book Critics Circle Award finalist, The Least of Us: True Tales of America and Hope in the Time of Fentanyl and Meth, which captures the devastation of this new epidemic of synthetic drugs, but at the same time, offers a lot of hope.
Duane and Sam explore the root of this whole opioid crisis and the need for us, as a society, to embrace recovery without anonymity, no more euphemisms, and no more hiding. We all have to get out of the shame that comes with addiction. We’re also living in a culture of addictive stuff where fast food, sugars, and pornography are legal. All this boils down to social change that is best achieved in small ways and small daily efforts – and it all starts with you!
In this episode, you will hear:
- The supply of synthetic drugs in Mexico
- How his book focuses on the message of hope in the midst of the opioid era
- Dr. Lou Ortenzio’s story of addiction and recovery
- Getting rid of the anonymity and euphemisms
- How we’re living in a culture of addictive stuff
- Becoming a master of your own fate
- What you can do on an individual level
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Supporting Resources:
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/samquinonesjournalist
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/samquinones_author/
Dreamland: The True Tale of America's Opiate Epidemic
https://www.amazon.com/Dreamland-YA-Americas-Opiate-Epidemic/dp/1547601310
The Least of Us: True Tales of America and Hope in the Time of Fentanyl and Meth
https://www.amazon.com/Least-Us-Tales-America-Fentanyl-ebook/dp/B0932RRNVL?ref_=ast_sto_dp
Episode Credits
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