Cover 2 Resources

On January 6th 2017, Greg interviewed Lenny Bernstein, a journalist for the Washington Post. Lenny discussed the force behind the opioid epidemic ravaging rural American communities. During his investigation, his team discovered that multiple drug distribution companies were giving rural pharmacies far more pills than they could possibly sell or store. But how could this happen unchecked? “As we dug into these cases,” Lenny explained, “we found that the DEA, their own employees, state boards and pharmacies had warned them… It was very obvious that [the companies] had to know, because these emails were going up to their headquarters.”

On Sunday October 15th 2017, 60 Minutes released a joint broadcast with the Washington Post, where they interviewed former DEA agent Joe Rannazzisi. In the interview, Rannazzisi revisits Bernstein’s initial finds, revealing the behind the scenes battle between the DEA, Congress, and large pharmaceutical distributors that’s enabled the opioid epidemic to continue sweeping the nation.

In light of this, we are re-releasing our Cover2 Podcast with Lenny Bernstein. We hope you enjoy.

Greg interviews Katie Park, the Ashtabula County Prevention Coalition Coordinator, as well as two clinical supervisors – Matt Butler from Community Counseling and Jennifer Simpson from Signature Health. Katie, Matt, and Jennifer have been working within Ashtabula County to help treat those affected by the opioid epidemic.

Listen to the podcast to discover how the Prevention Coalition is evaluating actual data from their community and using it to develop strategies to better educate, prevent, and treat those hit by the opioid crisis in Ashtabula.

Greg continues his interview with Maurice Clarett, the former Ohio State running back who led the team in 2002 to an undefeated season and their first national championship in 36 years. Following his first year at OSU, Maurice struggled with substance abuse, eventually culminating in imprisonment. He now educates and empowers others to achieve their goals through public speaking.

Listen to the podcast to discover how the Red Zone also works to get patients involved in the community so they can integrate their everyday life into their treatment.

Greg interviews Kristen Schenker, a licensed social worker and the current clinical supervisor at Glenbeigh. Glenbeigh is a drug and alcohol rehabilitation specialty hospital following the philosophy that those suffering from substance abuse disorder can develop a lifestyle outside of their chemical dependence.

Listen to the podcast to discover how Glenbeigh’s programs offer highly specialized and individualized care, giving patient’s the skills to support themselves and transform their lives.

Greg interviews Maurice Clarett, the former Ohio State running back who led the team in 2002 to an undefeated season and their first national championship in 36 years. Following his first year at OSU, Maurice struggled with substance abuse, eventually culminating in imprisonment. He now educates and empowers others to achieve their goals through public speaking.

Listen to the podcast to discover how Maurice handled his time away from the sport as well as his time in prison, and how both events shifted his priorities.

Greg interviews John Stuckey, the President of ARCHway Institute. ARCHway is a non-profit whose vision is to bring the treatment of mental health and addictive orders into the realm of mainstream medicine - similar to the treatment of other chronic lifestyle diseases such as obesity and diabetes.

Listen to the podcast to discover how self-medicating and consistent opioid use can re-wire the brain and lead to substance abuse disorder. As well as how drugs like Vivitrol can help those suffering from opioid dependence reclaim their lives.

Greg interviews Dr. Darin Neven, an emergency department physician practicing at Providence Sacred Heart Medical Center in Spokane, Washington. Dr. Neven explores the need to change the culture and practice in terms of treatment for substance use disorders in general and opioid addiction in particular. He points to one effective method to identifying a problem is through Washington’s state-wide tracking of patients’ ED visits, following their appearance pattern and history

Listen to the podcast to discover how the issue of opioid addiction treatment is shifting and success is being found with Suboxone.

Greg interviews Nicole Lewis, Washington Post reporter for the Fact Checker feature. In an article she bylined that was published 9/11/2017, she responded to President Trump’s claim that drugs would stop pouring into this country if we built a border wall, which was one of his campaign’s signature promises. She begs to differ. “A wall won’t stop them – flat out, wrong.”

Listen to the podcast to discover how the issue of drugs finding their way into the U.S. will not be obviated by the construction of any variety of border wall, according to Nicole’s extensive research and reporting.

Greg interviews Keary McCarthy, the Executive Director of the Ohio Mayors Alliance. The Ohio Mayors Alliance is a coalition of mayors from Ohio’s 30 largest urban and suburban communities, which works to advance priority policies, strengthen economic vibrancy, and better advocate for local communities through collaboration and communication.

Listen to the podcast to discover what the Mayors Alliance learned from this report and how they are utilizing that information to improve policy and combat the growing epidemic sweeping through Ohio communities.

Greg interviews Dr. Jay Butler, the Chief Medical Officer and Director of the Division of Public Health at the Alaska Department of Health and Human Services. He is also the Chairman of the Alaska Opioid Policy Task Force, a partnership between the Alaskan Advisory Board on Alcoholism and Drug Abuse, Mental Health Trust, and the Department of Health and Social Services, aiming to combat the rising incidence of heroin and opioid abuse in Alaska.

Listen to the podcast to discover how this state of emergency declaration works and how it has enabled Alaska to develop and carry out programs to help fight the opioid epidemic throughout the state.