Read the article here: https://www.statehousenews.com/news/healthcare/q-a-shns-talks-with-safespots-stephen-murray/article_d6b320ce-5b3a-11ef-8287-2f492c0dcb13.html
“AUG. 16, 2024……Stephen Murray has been working to address the overdose fatality crisis in Massachusetts for years.
A harm reduction program manager at Boston Medical Center and former paramedic, Murray directs BMC’s SafeSpot Overdose Hotline. He started the state’s “spotting” hotline for individuals using drugs — an operation staffed by operators with lived and living experience with overdose.
SafeSpot is “the only truly government-funded overdose hotline in the U.S.,” Murray said, and fields calls not just from Massachusetts, but across the nation and Canada. As Massachusetts struggles with waves of opioid-related overdose deaths, Murray and SafeSpot are attempting to lower the death rate by providing support for people using drugs, based on the understanding that using drugs alone is the biggest risk factor for fatal overdoses.
In a recent conversation with the News Service, Murray spoke to the experiences that prompted him to bring SafeSpot to Massachusetts, the constant grief associated with working in the harm reduction field, the Legislature’s role in the conversation, and why he believes that trying to convince people to stop using drugs is not the solution to decreasing overdose fatalities.”
