Tennessee Voices, Episode 230: Sam Quinones, author of 'Dreamland' and 'The Least of Us'
The drug overdose crisis continues to worsen in the United States.
While COVID-19 fatalities have eclipsed U.S. drug overdose deaths, there were more than 93,000 of the latter in 2020 — an increase of more than 20,000 from the previous year, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Journalist and author Sam Quinones has documented this scourge for years and famously wrote "Dreamland" about the opioid crisis in 2015.
His latest book "The Least of Us: True Tales of America and Hope in the Time of Fentanyl and Meth" was released on Tuesday and shows how the addiction crisis has evolved into a synthetic drug problem.
On this episode of the Tennessee Voices podcast, we talked about the book and potential solutions for stemming the tide, including transforming jails into detox centers, extending treatment times and enacting a responsible needle-exchange program to curb disease. He also explained why his views on marijuana legalization have changed as he has done more research.
"We are only as strong as the most vulnerable," he told me in describing what the book title means.
Quinones worked for the Los Angeles Times for many years, covering Latinos in the United States and in Mexico. He recently relocated to Nashville.
On Friday, Nov. 5, Parnassus Books in Nashville's Green Hills neighborhood is hosting a meet-the-author event with Quinones. Go to this link to sign up: https://www.parnassusbooks.net/event/store-sam-quinones-author-least-us
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About Tennessee Voices
The Tennessee Voices videocast is a 20-minute program, which started in March 2020 and invites leaders, thinkers and innovators who have written guest columns for a USA TODAY Network Tennessee publication to share their insights and wisdom with me and our viewers.
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David Plazas is the director of opinion and engagement for the USA TODAY Network Tennessee and an editorial board member of The Tennessean. Tweet to him at @davidplazas.
This article originally appeared on Nashville Tennessean: Living through the fentanyl and meth epidemic with Sam Quinones: Video
