Talking Addiction & Recovery Episode 122: Policing Patients: The Hidden Costs of Surveillance in Health (featuring Dr. Elizabeth Chiarello)
In this episode, we dive into the complexities of the opioid crisis with Dr. Elizabeth Chiarello, associate professor of sociology and author of Policing Patients: Treatment and Surveillance on the Frontlines of the Opioid Crisis. Drawing from hundreds of interviews with physicians, pharmacists, and law enforcement agents, Dr. Chiarello explores how prescription drug monitoring programs (PDMPs) are reshaping the boundaries between healthcare and criminal justice.
We discuss the challenges faced by medical providers navigating between treatment and surveillance, the unintended consequences of PDMPs, and how these tools are both a resource and a "Trojan horse" for patient care. Dr. Chiarello offers critical insights on harm reduction, balancing care with safety, and the policies needed to improve outcomes for those impacted by opioid use disorder.
About the Guest: Dr. Elizabeth Chiarello
Elizabeth Chiarello’s POLICING PATIENTS: Treatment and Surveillance on the Frontlines of the Opioid Crisis
Elizabeth Chiarello is an associate professor of sociology at Saint Louis University, a former fellow at the Harvard Radcliffe Institute, and a frequent public commentator on opioid-related topics. She and her work have been featured in The New York Times, USA Today and on Bloomberg News, among other leading media outlets.
In Policing Patients, Chiarello draws on hundreds of in-depth interviews with physicians, pharmacists, and enforcement agents across the United States to take readers to the frontlines of the opioid crisis, where medical providers must make difficult choices between treating and punishing the people in their care. States now employ prescription drug monitoring programs capable of tracking all controlled substances within a state and across state lines. Chiarello describes how the reliance on these databases blurs the line between medicine and criminal justice and pits pain sufferers against people with substance-use disorders in a zero-sum game.
Shedding critical light on this brave new world of healthcare, Policing Patients urges medical providers to reaffirm their roles as healers and proposes invaluable policy solutions centered on treatment, prevention, and harm reduction.
Contact Information:
www.lizchiarello.com
Twitter: @Liz_Chiarello
Bluesky: @lizchiarello.bsky.social
Thank you for listening to this episode of Talking Addiction & Recovery Podcast.
To learn more about the podcast visit www.andrewjschreier.com
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Talking Addiction & Recovery Podcast is the follow-up to the book "Addiction & Recovery" by author and clinician Andrew J. Schreier. This podcast explores discussions regarding important issues related to addiction and recovery. Information you learn here is not typical of what you will find in academic textbooks and resources; and comes from the experiences of a clinical supervisor, clinical substance abuse counselor, and licensed professional counselor and the work with individuals and others involved in this field. Listen as guests join the show and cover a wide range of topics looking to educate individuals, families, communities, organizations, institutions, mental health professionals, educators, and anyone else impacted by addiction and recovery. Content is not intended to be treatment and is not affiliated with any specific group.