Check out my most recent article for Truth Against the Machine by following this link: https://truthagainstthemachine.com/boston-local-businesses-may-stopping-heroine-addiction-recovery/

In this article, I look at the emerging movement in Boston, MA, to create supervised injection sites for opiates as part of a harm-reduction model. This is an important fight, as supervised injections are an extremely promising reform that is supported by large portions of the medical community, but is experiencing push back from many in the community.

Here is a short excerpt:

The City of Boston is beginning a discussion over whether it wants to allow supervised injection facilities (SIFs) to operate within the city. On June 19th, the Boston City Council had its first public meeting on this subject, where medical experts, advocates, and business groups gave testimony supporting and opposing these facilities.

Generally, the battle lines lie between medical professionals and addiction treatment advocates, who typically support the proposal, and individuals and business groups who are afraid that supervised injection sites will normalize addiction and flood the surrounding areas with addicts—in many ways, this divide mimics the one surrounding methadone clinics.

This meeting was only the first step in what promises to be an extremely emotionally charged debate. The City Council has not held a vote on this issue and, even if it did, the state would be required to pass legislation legalizing these facilities before one could start operating.

Continue reading on TATM

After reading my article, I strongly suggest following the Truth Against the Machine site. It is an exception political reporting venture founded by Jordan Chariton of TYT that hosts articles by independent, non-corporate, journalists. It is a really good source of information on stories that the rest of the media neglects and that you won’t see anywhere else.