"It made a lot of us wake up, finally, and say 'This is a disease'"- Representative David Baker (R) of Minnesota's...
The Roots of Opioid Use and Abuse
This six-part miniseries begins with a look into the underlying causes of the epidemic. Through conversations with medical professionals, harm reduction specialists, law makers and community specialists, this episode shows just how prevalent the opioid epidemic is in the Northland and how everyone – even those closet to us – can develop an opioid use disorder.
Thank you to St. Luke’s for their support in the production of this episode, as well as the following interviewees who shared their time, experiences and knowledge with this project:
- Dr. Nicholas Van Deelan, St. Luke's Emergency Dept.
- Sue Purchase, Harm Reduction Specialist
- Elizabeth Bilden, Essentia Health Toxicologist
- Stephan Witherspoon, Duluth NAACP President
- Rep. David Baker, (R) Minnesota House of Representatives, 17-B
- Duluth Police Lt. Jeff Kazel, Commander of the Lake Superior Drug and Violent Crime Task Force
- Dr. Heather Blue, UMD, St. Luke's
- Dr. Amanda Klein, UMD's College of Pharmacy
- Allissa Penney
- Natives Against Heroin Group
