Lives lost. Families torn apart. Children growing up without parents.
How did we get here?
Across the country, drug overdoses have overtaken traffic crashes as the number one cause of accidental death in America. And most of these overdose deaths have been linked to opiates – drugs including opioid prescription painkillers and heroin. But how did we get here? What’s it like to be addicted to something? Really addicted, when your addiction makes all the rules -- where you go, who you hang out with, how you treat people, how you treat yourself, whether you live or die.
On this special edition of TruckBeat, we’ll bring you the story of one community that’s fighting for its life, fighting back against opiate addiction. We’ll hear how the drug crisis looks in small-town East Tennessee. It’s a picture we’re seeing in every city, county and small town across America.
Matt Shafer PowellMatt Shafer Powell manages the news department at WUOT in Knoxville, Tennessee. A two-time national Murrow Award winner, Powell is an audio junkie who has spent time as a disc jockey, news reporter, writer/producer of commercials and sound recording engineer. He created TruckBeat's sister project at WUOT, Tenn Words.
Jess MadorJess Mador is the creator of TruckBeat for WUOT. She's an award-winning public radio and multimedia journalist who has produced stories for news organizations around the country, including Minnesota Public Radio, NPR News and PBS member stations. She has a Master's degree from the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism.
