美国国家公共电台 NPR Fight The Opioid Epidemic, All Agree. But Strategies Vary Widely

 

DAVID GREENE, HOST:

Now, across the U.S., states are pouring resources into fighting the opioid epidemic¹. A handful of them have even declared public health emergencies. And Arizona did just that earlier this year. But some advocates say that until state leaders let go of these entrenched² attitudes toward drug addiction³, more people are going to die. Will Stone from member station KJZZ in Phoenix⁴ reports.

WILL STONE, BYLINE⁵: It's no secret why people come to George Patterson on Tuesday afternoons in a mall parking lot.

UNIDENTIFIED MAN #1: Are you going to take these dirty ones?

GEORGE PATTERSON: Yeah, right there.

STONE: And not the pharmacy⁶ down the street.

PATTERSON: All you have to do is find us and you can come get it. You don't need to bring your ID, you don't need to, you know, sign anything. You just get what you need.

STONE: What the IV drug users gathered around his car need are clean needles and naloxone, the opioid overdose reversal drug. So they turn to volunteers like Patterson, who run Phoenix's only syringe exchange program called Shot In The Dark.

PATTERSON: A lot of them don't trust people. A lot of them have a lot of trust issues, understandably, with the health care industry, with what's going to be put on their record.

STONE: More than a dozen states have laws that explicitly⁷ allow syringe exchanges. Arizona doesn't, though. That means these volunteers operate under the radar⁸, trying to reach people like this man, who wouldn't give his name.

UNIDENTIFIED MAN #2: There's still a lot of people that don't even know about it, you know? And they're still using dirty needles. It shouldn't be so hidden.

STONE: This summer, Arizona's Republican Governor Doug Ducey declared the opioid epidemic a public health emergency, claiming two lives every day. But Patterson feels that hasn't necessarily translated into more help for the people he sees here.

PATTERSON: Instead of focusing on ways that you can connect with the IV drug-using population, show them that their health matters and prevent all the people that are likely never going to stop using IV drugs, they, like, leave them out here to pick up dirty needles out of parks and give themselves diseases.

STONE: Needle exchanges seek to reduce the negative consequences of drug use without forcing abstinence, a concept known as harm reduction. The surgeon general has determined⁹ such programs improve health outcomes like reducing HIV and hepatitis C rates, and they don't promote drug use. But that hasn't convinced some of Arizona's most influential¹⁰ law enforcement figures.

BILL MONTGOMERY: It's a well-intentioned, misguided program.

STONE: Bill Montgomery is the top prosecutor¹¹ in Maricopa County, which covers the Phoenix metro¹² area.

MONTGOMERY: We don't have a free-case-of-beer-a-month program for alcoholics¹³. It sends the wrong message too and it's not providing the treatment.

STONE: This is a common argument against syringe exchanges, that they enable drug use. Proponents¹⁴ of harm reduction, however, point to research that people who access these programs are actually more likely to seek treatment. Still, Montgomery says there are better solutions to the opioid epidemic. And he isn't out to prosecute¹⁵ drug users when he doesn't have to.

MONTGOMERY: Law enforcement really does look at treatment first as an option for those who are addicted¹⁶.

STONE: He points to Arizona's Angel Initiative, which lets people turn themselves into the police and get treatment. Expanding that program is part of the state's wide ranging opioid action plan. Experts from Arizona helped craft the policy roadmap, which recommends improving access to treatment and naloxone. It also proposes more regulation of the medical community and prescribing practices, a focus that Dr. Jeffrey Singer says is misguided.

JEFFREY SINGER: Our policies right now are aimed at the supply site. And all they're doing is driving the death rate up. They're not driving use down.

STONE: Because users are turning to heroin¹⁷ and fentanyl, says Singer, who's a fellow at the libertarian Cato Institute and a surgeon. He says Arizona should embrace harm reduction strategies.

SINGER: My job is to save lives and to ease suffering. The law enforcement people need to have that same attitude. We just have to take our personal biases¹⁸ out of it and just focus on the goal, which is less death and less disease.

STONE: In fact, the state asked a group of treatment providers for their top recommendations for its action plan. Among them, legalizing syringe exchanges. But that was nowhere in the final version. The state says that's because it doesn't directly reduce opioid overdoses or deaths. For NPR News, I'm Will Stone in Phoenix.

GREENE: That story was part of a reporting partnership¹⁹ with NPR, KJZZ and Kaiser Health News. And speaking of the nation's opioid crisis, we do have a correction to a segment we aired yesterday. We were talking about the McKesson Corporation, the nation's largest drug company. And we said the Trump²⁰ administration reached a settlement with McKesson dealing²¹ with alleged²² over shipments of opioids. In fact, that settlement was announced on January 17. That was during the last days of President Barack Obama's term.

1 epidemic   

n.流行病；盛行；adj.流行性的，流传极广的

参考例句：

• That kind of epidemic disease has long been stamped out.那种传染病早已绝迹。
• The authorities tried to localise the epidemic.当局试图把流行病限制在局部范围。

2 entrenched   

adj.确立的，不容易改的(风俗习惯)

参考例句：

• Television seems to be firmly entrenched as the number one medium for national advertising.电视看来要在全国广告媒介中牢固地占据头等位置。
• If the enemy dares to attack us in these entrenched positions,we will make short work of them.如果敌人胆敢进攻我们固守的阵地，我们就消灭他们。

3 addiction   

n.上瘾入迷，嗜好

参考例句：

• He stole money from his parents to feed his addiction.他从父母那儿偷钱以满足自己的嗜好。
• Areas of drug dealing are hellholes of addiction,poverty and murder.贩卖毒品的地区往往是吸毒上瘾、贫困和发生谋杀的地方。

4 phoenix   

n.凤凰，长生(不死)鸟；引申为重生

参考例句：

• The airline rose like a phoenix from the ashes.这家航空公司又起死回生了。
• The phoenix worship of China is fetish worship not totem adoration.中国凤崇拜是灵物崇拜而非图腾崇拜。

5 byline   

n.署名；v.署名

参考例句：

• His byline was absent as well.他的署名也不见了。
• We wish to thank the author of this article which carries no byline.我们要感谢这篇文章的那位没有署名的作者。

6 pharmacy   

n.药房，药剂学，制药业，配药业，一批备用药品

参考例句：

• She works at the pharmacy.她在药房工作。
• Modern pharmacy has solved the problem of sleeplessness.现代制药学已经解决了失眠问题。

7 explicitly   

ad.明确地，显然地

参考例句：

• The plan does not explicitly endorse the private ownership of land. 该计划没有明确地支持土地私有制。
• SARA amended section 113 to provide explicitly for a right to contribution. 《最高基金修正与再授权法案》修正了第123条，清楚地规定了分配权。 来自英汉非文学 - 环境法 - 环境法

8 radar   

n.雷达，无线电探测器

参考例句：

• They are following the flight of an aircraft by radar.他们正在用雷达追踪一架飞机的飞行。
• Enemy ships were detected on the radar.敌舰的影像已显现在雷达上。

9 determined   

adj.坚定的；有决心的

参考例句：

• I have determined on going to Tibet after graduation.我已决定毕业后去西藏。
• He determined to view the rooms behind the office.他决定查看一下办公室后面的房间。

10 influential   

adj.有影响的，有权势的

参考例句：

• He always tries to get in with the most influential people.他总是试图巴结最有影响的人物。
• He is a very influential man in the government.他在政府中是个很有影响的人物。

11 prosecutor   

n.起诉人；检察官，公诉人

参考例句：

• The defender argued down the prosecutor at the court.辩护人在法庭上驳倒了起诉人。
• The prosecutor would tear your testimony to pieces.检查官会把你的证言驳得体无完肤。

12 metro   

n.地铁；adj.大都市的；(METRO)麦德隆(财富500强公司之一总部所在地德国，主要经营零售)

参考例句：

• Can you reach the park by metro?你可以乘地铁到达那个公园吗？
• The metro flood gate system is a disaster prevention equipment.地铁防淹门系统是一种防灾设备。

13 Alcoholics   

n.嗜酒者，酒鬼( alcoholic的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• Many alcoholics go on drinking sprees that continue for days at a time. 许多酒鬼一次要狂饮好几天。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》
• Do you have a copy of the Alcoholics Anonymous book? 你手上有戒酒匿名会的书吗？ 来自互联网

14 proponents   

n.（某事业、理论等的）支持者，拥护者( proponent的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• Reviewing courts were among the most active proponents of hybrid rulemaking procedures. 复审法院是最积极的混合型规则制定程序的建议者。 来自英汉非文学 - 行政法
• Proponents of such opinions were arrested as 'traitors. ' 提倡这种主张的人马上作为“卖国贼”逮捕起来。 来自辞典例句

15 prosecute   

vt.告发；进行；vi.告发，起诉，作检察官

参考例句：

• I am trying my best to prosecute my duties.我正在尽力履行我的职责。
• Is there enough evidence to prosecute?有没有起诉的足够证据？

16 addicted   

adj.沉溺于....的，对...上瘾的

参考例句：

• He was addicted to heroin at the age of 17.他17岁的时候对海洛因上了瘾。
• She's become addicted to love stories.她迷上了爱情小说。

17 heroin   

n.海洛因

参考例句：

• Customs have made their biggest ever seizure of heroin.海关查获了有史以来最大的一批海洛因。
• Heroin has been smuggled out by sea.海洛因已从海上偷运出境。

18 biases   

偏见( bias的名词复数 )； 偏爱； 特殊能力； 斜纹

参考例句：

• Stereotypes represent designer or researcher biases and assumptions, rather than factual data. 它代表设计师或者研究者的偏见和假设，而不是实际的数据。 来自About Face 3交互设计精髓
• The net effect of biases on international comparisons is easily summarized. 偏差对国际比较的基本影响容易概括。

19 partnership   

n.合作关系，伙伴关系

参考例句：

• The company has gone into partnership with Swiss Bank Corporation.这家公司已经和瑞士银行公司建立合作关系。
• Martin has taken him into general partnership in his company.马丁已让他成为公司的普通合伙人。

20 trump   

n.王牌，法宝；v.打出王牌，吹喇叭

参考例句：

• He was never able to trump up the courage to have a showdown.他始终鼓不起勇气摊牌。
• The coach saved his star player for a trump card.教练保留他的明星选手，作为他的王牌。

21 dealing   

n.经商方法，待人态度

参考例句：

• This store has an excellent reputation for fair dealing.该商店因买卖公道而享有极高的声誉。
• His fair dealing earned our confidence.他的诚实的行为获得我们的信任。

22 alleged   

a.被指控的，嫌疑的

参考例句：

• It was alleged that he had taken bribes while in office. 他被指称在任时收受贿赂。
• alleged irregularities in the election campaign 被指称竞选运动中的不正当行为