Aug 11, 2026 · 1h 4m
Overdose prevention demands more than arrests
CDC Foundation's Fight Against Overdose Deaths | We're Out of Time
The episode shows why reducing overdose deaths requires public health infrastructure, treatment, harm reduction, trusted communities, and law enforcement working together.
- 1Overdose prevention must address demand, stigma, treatment, housing, mental health, and community conditions alongside accountability.
- 2Personal trust and lived experience make outreach more credible, especially when shame keeps people from seeking help.
- 3Naloxone access, earlier education, data-driven outreach, and cross-sector partnerships offer practical ways to prevent deaths.
Don't miss
Terri Perez explains how supporting her son through addiction and recovery changed the priority from social judgment to keeping him alive and healthy.
The brief
Terri Perez argues that rising overdose deaths require a public health response, not criminal justice alone—one that addresses prevention, treatment, demand, and support for people with substance use disorder.
Judy Monroe describes the CDC Foundation’s role in building public-private partnerships, drawing on rural medicine and the hard-earned trust that makes community health work possible.
Perez connects policy to family experience, describing addiction as an illness rather than a moral failure and emphasizing compassion, connection, and survival over social judgment.
The guests point to coalitions in Georgia and San Diego that combine public health, healthcare, law enforcement, lived experience, and data-driven outreach to reach people where they are.
Their practical agenda includes carrying naloxone, reducing stigma, educating children earlier, mentoring young people, and strengthening the social ties that support recovery.
Featuring
Appalachia
San DiegoListen to the full episode and explore every guest, topic, and moment on PodLume.