Mobile Public Policy Dialogue Forums

To ensure that the recovery community is given a prominent voice in shaping public policy, we created “Crafting a Solution from the Inside,” a county-wide initiative in which District Attorney Ryan leads “living room-style” conversations with a panel of individuals in various stages of recovery.

Panel conversations have been hosted, to date, in Lowell, Medford, and Framingham. The program encourages recovering users to share their personal experiences with key stakeholders, and to recommend ways to improve access to care and other critical services. Forums include an introductory presentation on the physiology of addiction and an overview of the different levels of care.

“Crafting a Solution from the Inside” demonstrates our willingness to employ non-traditional measures to help curb the opioid epidemic; at the same time, it acknowledges and affirms that those most intimately familiar with addiction offer a unique and untapped perspective in combatting the problem. This program is a bold and progressive undertaking from a sitting district attorney who is deeply committed to addressing the opioid problem.

Unique to the program is how the traditional adversarial roles of prosecutor versus “addict” emerge to foster meaningful and enlightened dialogue while, at the same time, working to elicit important information to effect change.