Opioid Misconceptions, Electric Scooters, Faith and Gang Violence

What If Primary Care Doctors Could Prescribe Methadone for Opioid Addiction? Guest: Jeffrey Samet, MD, Chief of General Internal Medicine at Boston University School of Medicine/Boston Medical Center, John Noble, MD Professor of General Internal Medicine and Professor of Public Health at Boston University, Vice Chair for Public Health in the Department of Medicine One hundred fifteen people die every day in the United States from an opioid overdose. President Trump’s plan to reduce that number echoes the call from public health experts to expand access to treatment services for people with opioid use disorder. In an opinion published in the New England Journal of Medicine, Dr. Jeffrey Samet argues for a fundamental change in how opioid addiction is treated in the US: He’d like to see primary care physicians prescribing methadone, rather than limiting methadone access only to specialized clinics. Electric Scooters are the Next Wave in Ridesharing Guest: Enrique Dans, PhD, Professor of Innovation at IE Business School in Spain, Tech blogger “enriquedans.com” In Santa Monica, LA, San Francisco, DC, Austin and a bunch of other cities, you can use an app to find an electric scooter nearby and take it for a cheap ride. These scooter-for-rent companies are the next wave in ride-sharing and they’re stirring up just as much controversy as their older siblings Lyft and Uber. City officials worry about safety hazards– people zipping along on sidewalks without helmets, for example, or dumping scooters willy-nilly on streets and sidewalks when they’re done riding. Finding Hope in Troubled Times Guest: Kate Davies, DPhil, Author of “Intrinsic Hope”, Clinical Associate Professor of Public Health at the University of Washington All across the northern hemisphere, hot temperatures set records over the last week – from Ireland to Oman and throughout the United States. Climate scientists say things are only going to get hotter as greenhouse gases from cars, power plants and farms trap heat. This is a gloomy time in the world: drought, fires, food shortages, civil wars, animal extinction, political polarization, growing social inequality. You might even feel a bit hopeless for the future. But environmental policy expert Kate Davies finds plenty of room for hope. Maybe just not the kind of hope we’re used to thinking of. Faith to Fight Gang Violence Guest: Rev. Eugene F. Rivers, III, Co-Founder, Boston TenPoint Coalition It’s been called the Boston Miracle. Back in the early 1990s, murders in Boston hit an all-time high. Most of the killings were a result of drugs and gang-related violence. When gang members attacked mourners inside the church where a funeral was being held for a young homicide victim, the Boston’s religious leaders took a stand. They formed the TenPoint Coalition to tackle the violence head on. And it worked – from a high of more than 150 murders in 1990, killings dropped to 31 by 1999. Parent Previews: Ant Man and the Wasp Guest: Rod Gustafson, ParentPreviews.com The hot holiday weekend brought yet another big hit for Marvel Studios. Ant-Man is back – and he’s got a partner with a fancy suit, too. Fancier than his, actually. Crowdfunding Favors Female Entrepreneurs Guest: Michael Johnson, PhD, Assistant Professor of Management, Louisiana State University   The key to turning a great idea into a successful company – is money. And in the world of tech startups, men have a proven advantage getting venture capitalists to invest. Women entrepreneurs are even told to downplay their feminine side if they hope to get funding. But in the world of crowdfunding on sites like Kickstarter, the exact opposite seems to be true.