美国国家公共电台 NPR 'Heroin(e)': The Women Fighting Addiction In Appalachia

 

RENEE MONTAGNE, HOST:

The opioid epidemic¹ has hit Huntington, W. Va., very hard with an overdose rate 10 times the national average. Documentary filmmaker Elaine McMillion Sheldon chose Huntington as the setting for her short doc about America's opioid crisis now nominated for an Oscar. It's called "Heroin²(e)." That's the drug heroin within an E added. One of those heroines is the town's fire chief, Jan Rader. She spends her days in an endless cycle of trying to revive addicts³ who have ODed.

(SOUNDBITE OF DOCUMENTARY, "HEROIN(E).")

JAN RADER: You know, we conservatively estimated that Cabell County - and we're talking 96,000 people - spent probably about $100 million in health care costs associated with IV drug use in 2015. That's one small county in one small state.

MONTAGNE: Another heroine is Patricia Keller. She's the judge of the town's drug court, administering justice and compassion⁴ to those returning to her courtroom often again and again. We are joined by Chief Rader and Judge Keller. Welcome.

PATRICIA KELLER: Thank you.

RADER: Thank you very much.

MONTAGNE: All right. I'm going to start with you, Chief Rader. Why has Huntington been hit so hard by this terrible opioid epidemic?

RADER: Well, I think that West Virginia in general is more of a blue-collar state. And we have a lot of people that have injuries, back injuries, knee injuries, things like that. So there have been a lot of pain medication that has been prescribed to them. Then people have become addicted⁵ to that pain medicine.

MONTAGNE: But in the documentary, you speak about a certain hopelessness, a culture that's disappeared, the sort of things that might drive someone into addiction⁶.

RADER: Certainly, I think that hopelessness is a big part of it, you know? It's been a dying town for some time, with industry leaving and things like that. So there is a lot of hopelessness that surrounds the Appalachian region in general.

MONTAGNE: We see you, Chief Rader, arriving to find a young woman dead. But most of the time in this film, you're reviving people with this drug Narcan that reverses opioid overdoses. And, you know, in the film, there's a meeting where one resident says almost logically, you know, aren't you enabling these folks?

RADER: Yes. We get that question a lot. But, you know, I think it's quite the opposite. I feel like we're treating people with substance use disorder⁷ even subhuman, not just like a second-class citizen - but subhuman. And, you know, a lot of people that study addiction say that the opposite of addiction is community. And we need to be helping⁸ them and finding out why they are in this situation and try to help lift them out of that.

MONTAGNE: You say you'd rather save somebody 50 times because that's 50 chances to get them into long-term recovery.

RADER: Death is final. So, I mean, how can I judge somebody and say, no, you've had enough Narcan, and you don't deserve anymore? I mean, I just can't even fathom⁹ that. I can't wrap my brain around that. And you have to be alive to experience long-term recovery. And people do go into long-term recovery.

KELLER: This is Judge Keller. Let me interrupt the chief here for just a moment. I want to address that one point that you made about continuing the use of Narcan on people and the questions that we get. I run - or I started the drug court program in our county. And we had a graduation not long ago where several of our graduates got up and spoke¹⁰ about having gone through the revival¹¹ process, being Narcaned, as they say, 15 times. And yet they were standing¹² there in drug court, graduating, becoming very productive citizens, employed and all because they had been Narcaned enough time to get them to the point that they were ready to enter and maintain long-term recovery.

MONTAGNE: You know, I have to say, though, watching the film and the two of you in action under this kind of pressure on what seemed like almost an hour-by-hour basis, I just wondered how you do, in fact, remain so hopeful and optimistic when you're seeing people who don't seem to care whether they live or die.

RADER: Well, you see a very short period of time in that film. But what you don't see is we sit, and we talk to these individuals. We get to know them. We know their backstory. And it's heartbreaking. But, you know, even a month clean is just to be celebrated¹³. And Judge Keller and myself - we get to see people in long-term recovery. Now, we see a lot of sad things. Some people don't make it out, and they actually die from their disease process. But we see many people that are in long-term recovery that are in celebration of what they have experienced.

MONTAGNE: Well, this film is up for an Academy Award. And I'm just wondering if - with all the attention that will be paid to it and this problem, do you think that will make a difference?

RADER: I think it makes a difference every day. The fact that it's reaching so many people - it's starting conversations. And that's how it has to begin. We didn't get into this situation overnight. And we certainly aren't going to get out of it overnight.

MONTAGNE: The documentary short is called "Heroin(e)", shot in Huntington, W. Va. It features Fire Chief Jan Rader and Judge Patricia Keller. Thanks so much for joining us.

KELLER: Thank you.

RADER: Thank you.

(SOUNDBITE OF MUSIC)

MONTAGNE: Are you excited about going out to the Oscars?

KELLER: Excited and nervous. I'm not really that dress-up girl. And they won't let me bling out my robe to wear or let Jan wear her fire chief uniform. So...

(SOUNDBITE OF MUSIC)

1 epidemic   

n.流行病；盛行；adj.流行性的，流传极广的

参考例句：

• That kind of epidemic disease has long been stamped out.那种传染病早已绝迹。
• The authorities tried to localise the epidemic.当局试图把流行病限制在局部范围。

2 heroin   

n.海洛因

参考例句：

• Customs have made their biggest ever seizure of heroin.海关查获了有史以来最大的一批海洛因。
• Heroin has been smuggled out by sea.海洛因已从海上偷运出境。

3 addicts   

有…瘾的人( addict的名词复数 )； 入迷的人

参考例句：

• a unit for rehabilitating drug addicts 帮助吸毒者恢复正常生活的机构
• There is counseling to help Internet addicts?even online. 有咨询机构帮助网络沉迷者。 来自超越目标英语 第3册

4 compassion   

n.同情，怜悯

参考例句：

• He could not help having compassion for the poor creature.他情不自禁地怜悯起那个可怜的人来。
• Her heart was filled with compassion for the motherless children.她对于没有母亲的孩子们充满了怜悯心。

5 addicted   

adj.沉溺于....的，对...上瘾的

参考例句：

• He was addicted to heroin at the age of 17.他17岁的时候对海洛因上了瘾。
• She's become addicted to love stories.她迷上了爱情小说。

6 addiction   

n.上瘾入迷，嗜好

参考例句：

• He stole money from his parents to feed his addiction.他从父母那儿偷钱以满足自己的嗜好。
• Areas of drug dealing are hellholes of addiction,poverty and murder.贩卖毒品的地区往往是吸毒上瘾、贫困和发生谋杀的地方。

7 disorder   

n.紊乱，混乱；骚动，骚乱；疾病，失调

参考例句：

• When returning back,he discovered the room to be in disorder.回家后，他发现屋子里乱七八糟。
• It contained a vast number of letters in great disorder.里面七零八落地装着许多信件。

8 helping   

n.食物的一份&adj.帮助人的，辅助的

参考例句：

• The poor children regularly pony up for a second helping of my hamburger. 那些可怜的孩子们总是要求我把我的汉堡包再给他们一份。
• By doing this, they may at times be helping to restore competition. 这样一来, 他在某些时候,有助于竞争的加强。

9 fathom   

v.领悟，彻底了解

参考例句：

• I really couldn't fathom what he was talking about.我真搞不懂他在说些什么。
• What these people hoped to achieve is hard to fathom.这些人希望实现些什么目标难以揣测。

10 spoke   

n.（车轮的）辐条；轮辐；破坏某人的计划；阻挠某人的行动 v.讲，谈（speak的过去式）；说；演说；从某种观点来说

参考例句：

• They sourced the spoke nuts from our company.他们的轮辐螺帽是从我们公司获得的。
• The spokes of a wheel are the bars that connect the outer ring to the centre.辐条是轮子上连接外圈与中心的条棒。

11 revival   

n.复兴，复苏，（精力、活力等的）重振

参考例句：

• The period saw a great revival in the wine trade.这一时期葡萄酒业出现了很大的复苏。
• He claimed the housing market was showing signs of a revival.他指出房地产市场正出现复苏的迹象。

12 standing   

n.持续，地位；adj.永久的，不动的，直立的，不流动的

参考例句：

• After the earthquake only a few houses were left standing.地震过后只有几幢房屋还立着。
• They're standing out against any change in the law.他们坚决反对对法律做任何修改。

13 celebrated   

adj.有名的，声誉卓著的

参考例句：

• He was soon one of the most celebrated young painters in England.不久他就成了英格兰最负盛名的年轻画家之一。
• The celebrated violinist was mobbed by the audience.观众团团围住了这位著名的小提琴演奏家。