Stakeholders recognized that opioid addiction could happen to anyone.
Stakeholders described a cultural shift in the stereotype of an opioid user, seeing opioid use as a health concern versus a crime.
“It’s sort of a ridiculous idea that a person is just going to stop being addicted to a drug, and stop using the drug that they’re addicted to because someone has said, “You’re not allowed to.”
“Just stop using drugs or else you’re gonna go to jail. That doesn’t work. We all know it doesn’t work. I wish somehow we could get the courts cured to better understand the concepts of harm reduction.”