SMART Policy Podcast

Something really has changed over the past twenty years, especially in the last ten. Our culture has increasingly come to accept the idea that addiction is a chronic, treatable disease, not a moral failure. Secretary...

Ask just about any teacher or parent about what concerns them, and you’ll hear about vaping. According to the Tennessee Dept. of Health, 22% youth admit to vaping, which is a rate more than twice the national average...

In our last episode, we heard from Andi and Tanner Clements from Uplift Appalachia that churches and communities want to help with recovery, but most don’t feel equipped to take on the challenge. There’s also the...

This is the kind of dilemma that faces many people in Tennessee: staying in recovery while trying to rebuild a life, but resources are limited and local public transportation is not reliable or readily available. This...

It is increasingly well understood that the criminal justice system is one of the most significant and valuable intervention points for getting people into recovery. When people are given access to the services they...

West Virginia has been often described as “ground zero” of the opioid epidemic, largely because of the explicit targeting of the state by Purdue Pharma for its aggressive marketing of OxyContin.First Responder Jan...

When it comes to any large government program targeting health, social, and cultural issues, there are always concerns that the money won’t be spent well. The opioid settlements are no exception. So when a program...

If you’ve ever worked in the field of recovery in East Tennessee, there’s a strong chance you’ve met Trent Coffey, executive director of the Schools Together Allowing No Drugs, or STAND, Coalition in Scott County, TN...

Cannabis, cannabinoids, and cannabimimetics like Delta-8 and THC-P and more are increasingly common across America, including in the state of Tennessee, where we have passed numerous regulations on the industry in...

Small business owners, industry leaders, law enforcement officers, teachers, and even other elected offices like city councilperson - these are some of the most common professions that people have before becoming a...

The group of people that are dying of overdoses at the highest rate, by far, are men in their 30s-50s. This group is also statistically less likely than others to ask for help. This is one of the biggest reasons why it...

Despite significant changes at the federal and state level, the rate of opioid prescriptions remains startlingly high. The most recent data shows that Tennessee is still hovering around 60 prescriptions for every 100...

Overdose Fatality Review, or OFR, is a fairly new and yet already proven strategy for identifying gaps in recovery ecosystems. In other words, you bring together people from healthcare, law enforcement, criminal...

Late last year, Maury County Commission approved the spending of $920,770 in opioid settlement funding, abating the opioid crisis in their community from multiple angles.But it’s more than just the broad and...

From 2001-2011, as the prescription opioid crisis spiraled out of control, Kim Harmon, then with Tennessee Bureau of Investigation, went undercover to bust pill mills, among other investigations into medical fraud...