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SUMMARY:Virtual Author Talk -- America's Failed Response to the Opioid Crisis with Author Shoshana Walter
DESCRIPTION:Join us for a special conversation between award-winning 
 journalist Shoshana Walter and bestselling and award-winning author Barbara 
 Kingsolver as they chat about Walter’s book Rehab: An American Scandal. 
 In this work\, Walter\, a Pulitzer finalist\, exposes the country’s 
 failed response to the opioid crisis\, and the malfeasance\, corruption\, 
 and snake oil which blight the drug rehabilitation industry.\n\nToday\, 
 more people have access to treatment than ever before. So why isn’t it 
 working? The answer is that in America—where anyone can get 
 addicted—only certain people get a real chance to recover. Despite record 
 numbers of overdose deaths\, our default response is still to punish\, 
 while rehabs across the United States fail to incorporate scientifically 
 proven strategies and exploit patients. \n\nIn this book\, you’ll find 
 the stories of four people who represent the failures of the 
 rehab-industrial complex\, and the ways our treatment system often prevents 
 recovery. April is a black mom in Philadelphia\, who witnessed firsthand 
 how the government’s punitive response to the crack epidemic impeded her 
 mother’s recovery—and then her own. Chris\, a young middle-class white 
 man from Louisiana\, received more opportunities in his addiction than 
 April\, including the chance to go to treatment instead of prison. Yet the 
 only program the judge permitted was one that forced him to perform unpaid 
 back-breaking labor at for-profit companies. Wendy is a mother from a 
 wealthy suburb of Los Angeles\, whose son died in a sober living home. She 
 began investigating for-profit treatment programs—yet law enforcement and 
 regulators routinely ignored her warnings\, allowing rehab patients to 
 die\, again and again. Larry is a surgeon who himself struggled with 
 addiction\, and would eventually become one of the first Suboxone 
 prescribers in the nation\, drawing the scrutiny of the Drug Enforcement 
 Administration. \n\nBe sure to register now to participate in this urgent 
 conversation and learn insight on how we might fix the system to save 
 lives.\n\nAbout the Author: \n\nShoshana Walter is a reporter for the 
 Marshall Project covering the criminal justice system. Her reporting has 
 been honored as a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize and Selden Ring\, and she 
 has won the Knight Award for Public Service\, the Edward R. Murrow Award\, 
 and the Livingston Award for Young Journalists. She started her work on the 
 treatment system at The Center for Investigative Reporting\, where her work 
 appeared in The New York Times Magazine\, in newspapers\, and on NPR 
 stations across the country. She is based in Oakland\, California.\n\nAbout 
 the Guest Host: \n\nBarbara Ellen Kingsolver is a Pulitzer Prize-winning 
 American novelist\, essayist\, and poet. Her widely known works include The 
 Poisonwood Bible\, the tale of a missionary family in the Congo\, and 
 Animal\, Vegetable\, Miracle\, a nonfiction account of her family's 
 attempts to eat locally. In 2023\, she was awarded the Pulitzer Prize for 
 Fiction for the novel Demon Copperhead. Her work often focuses on topics 
 such as social justice\, biodiversity\, and the interaction between humans 
 and their communities and environments.\n\nJoin Meeting: 
 https://libraryc.org/agawamlibrary/117073/register
ORGANIZER;CN="Kristen Frost":MAILTO:kfrost@agawamlibrary.org
CATEGORIES:Virtual Author Talks
CONTACT;CN="Kristen Frost":MAILTO:kfrost@agawamlibrary.org
STATUS:CONFIRMED
UID:LibCal-16126230
URL:https://agawamlibrary.libcal.com/event/16126230
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