The Crack Cocaine Center Of Excellence
2 Feb
From the art piece, Found Dope II, by Candy Jernigan, 308 crack vials and caps she found over a period of 16 days during her walks in mid-eighties East Village, NYC. Photo Credit: Susannah Breslin
The Crack Cocaine Center Of Excellence. You can picture it right? Oh, wait, you’re saying you can’t? But, here in Rhode Island, established in 2016, are our first, Opioid Centers of Excellence, or certified treatment facilities that “meet or exceed established requirement for providing medication-assisted treatment for addiction to prescription painkillers, heroin and other opioids. Certified facilities are authorized to provide the treatment to residents with opioid use disorders, including those enrolled in Medicaid.”
Our governor, Gina Raimondo, who has been working with health officials on a plan to combat what is being called “the opioid crisis” said this at the time of the opening of the first center: “Rhode Island’s first Center of Excellence will make it easier for patients struggling with opioid use disorders to get treatment, and will help healthcare providers on the front lines to best support their patients on the path to recovery.”
This makes me mad. Why would I, or anyone, be mad about this effort to help those addicted to heroin and other opioids? I am not mad at these current efforts. I am mad about the following. […]
