Is harm reduction the answer to Cook County’s opioid crisis?

The opioid crisis isn’t slowing down in Cook County. In fact, according to the county medical examiner’s office, a record number of people died from opioid overdoses in 2022. Addiction treatment workers say they aren’t surprised. “All of these statistics would be mitigated in some fashion by better investment in social services, housing, harm reduction programming,” said John Werning, the executive director of the Chicago Recovery Alliance. Werning said using the phrase “opioid crisis” is a misnomer. He sees it as a crisis of opioid overdoses. In this episode, we talked to Werning about harm reduction, stigma, and why he thinks policy—rather than drugs themselves—fuels the crisis.