What's in the news this week? 1. Vending machines now dispense more than candy and soda. New machines are coming to Las Vegas that dispense clean syringes, kits for safe sex, kits that clean wounds, and provide a means of safely disposing syringes. 2. Sober online dating sites. 3. A new study finds that as the jobless rate rises, so do drug overdoses. Listen in to this support group discuss these issues.

Discussion Guide:

What are the pros and cons of syringe vending machines?

Would you have utilized them?

How did you dispose of your used needles?

Have you used an online dating service?

What are the pros and cons of a recovery dating site?

12-Step conventional advise is to avoid dating in the first year of recovery. Do you agree or disagree? Why?

As the unemployment rate increases by one percentage point in a given county, the opioid-death-rate rises by 3.6%, and ER visits rise by 7%. What would you think causes this?

Supplemental Reading:

Victoria Kim, Country's First Syringe Vending Machines Are Coming to Vegas, https://www.thefix.com/country%E2%80%99s-first-syringe-vending-machines-are-coming-vegas

New Sober Dating Site, https://www.thefix.com/new-sober-dating-site

Olga Khazan, The Link Between Opioids and Unemployment, https://www.theatlantic.com/health/archive/2017/04/joblessness-and-opioids/523281/