Even asking how best to wean drug abusers off opioids can raise hackles. Addiction specialists have straddled a philosophical divide over the use of pharmaceuticals in the process. But the side advocating against medication assisted treatment is shrinking in Tennessee and nationwide. One line of thinking is that freedom from all drugs is the only real recovery. So it’s been difficult for those with that mindset to embrace special opioids that tame the cravings and ward off the misery of...

[Editor's note: I thought y'all might be interested in what's happening in another part of the state. Becky Haas wrote this for the Northeast Tennessee ACEs Connection group .] In 2012 I was hired by the Johnson City Police Department as director of an $800,000 grant-funded Targeted Community Crime Reduction Project to reduce drug-related and violent crime in two Johnson City, TN, neighborhoods historically known for highest rates of these crimes. This project required a collaborative...