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Love in the time of Fentanyl Panel Discussion
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Indie Lens | Panel Discussion | Love in the Time of Fentanyl
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About the Show

A supervised drug consumption site gives hope to a marginalized community ravaged by the overdose crisis.

Love in the Time of Fentanyl | Official Trailer | Independent Lens | PBS

Premieres February 13, 2023. Check out all our docs: https://www.pbs.org/show/independent-lens/
Website: pbs.org/timeoffentanylfilm | #FentanylFilmPBS

As deaths in Vancouver, Canada reach an all-time high, the Overdose Prevention Society opens its doors—a renegade supervised drug consumption site that employs active and former drug users. Its staff and volunteers do whatever it takes to save lives and give hope to a marginalized community in this intimate documentary that looks beyond the stigma of people who use fentanyl and other drugs.

Learn more about Independent Lens: http://www.pbs.org/independentlens 
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/independentlens 
Twitter: https://twitter.com/IndependentLens 
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/independenlens

INDEPENDENT LENS is America’s home for independent documentary film. Each week the award-winning series delivers engaging documentaries crafted by the industry’s boldest filmmakers. Independent Lens films have won 25 Emmy Awards, 23 Peabody Awards, eight duPont-Columbia University Awards, and have received 10 Academy Award nominations. Independent Lens received the International Documentary Association (IDA) Award for Best Continuing Series in 2013, 2014, 2015, 2017, and 2022. 

#Documentary #LoveInTheTimeOfFentanyl #Trailer

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Mariano Avila
Moderator

Mariano Avila was born in Mexico City, Mexico. 

His life and work have taken him from refugee camps in Palestine to Guatemalan communities built atop garbage dumps. 

He has met dignitaries and celebrities from around the world. 

Mariano is a graduate of Calvin University in Michigan, has an MFA in creative writing from Warren Wilson College in North Carolina and holds certificates from Harvard Kennedy School, the Poynter Institute and the National Equity Project.

He is a Digital Media Producer working on "My American Dream" a project he brought with him to Milwaukee PBS and is also one of the three voices you will hear on our podcast "Speaking of..." available on your favorite streaming service. 

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Scott Stokes

Scott Stokes currently serves as the Communicable Disease Harm Reduction Section Manager, at the Wisconsin Department of Health Services, in the Division of Public Health, in the Bureau Communicable Diseases. 

Prior to state service he was employed at the AIDS Resource Center of Wisconsin (ARCW) for 24 years, and was the Statewide Director of Prevention Services.  While at ARCW he developed and implemented Syringe Access Programs in ten Wisconsin communities as well as implementing a statewide HCV testing initiative. 

He served on the National Harm Reduction Working Group. He was appointed to Wisconsin’s State Council on Alcohol and Other Drug Abuse where he chaired the Prevention Committee and served as the Council Co-Chair. 

Scott also was on the World Service Board of Trustees for Cocaine Anonymous. Scott has been in long term recovery from addictions since 9/19/1984.

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Tom Wolf

Thomas Wolf is a formerly homeless recovering Heroin and Fentanyl addict from San Francisco. 

In 2018, Thomas spent 6 months homeless on the streets of the Tenderloin neighborhood struggling  with addiction. He was arrested 6 times for holding drugs for street-level drug dealers and other  offenses and eventually went to jail for 3 months before going to a 6-month inpatient treatment  program where he found recovery. 

Thomas is now a Recovery Advocate based in San Francisco. He has done speaking engagements both in  the United States and Canada and considers these crises to be Bi-Partisan. Thomas has stood in  Sacramento with parents who have lost their kids to Fentanyl poisoning and been invited to speak at  fundraising events for various Non Profit Organizations including: The Salvation Army and The Welcome  Home Project. Most recently, Thomas was invited to speak and participate in a panel discussion about  homelessness and public safety at the Stanford Institute of Economic Policy Research (SIEPR.) Thomas  also has started a YouTube channel called Voices in Recovery, interviewing persons who have  experienced homelessness and addiction to raise awareness and share the truth of life on the street. 

Thomas has become a strong voice for a new approach to the homeless and drug crises that blends  accountability and public health approaches in San Francisco and beyond. His story and solutions have  been featured in local, national, and international news including CNN, FOX news, New York Times, Los  Angeles Times the San Francisco Chronicle and more. Thomas is a Co-Founder of the California Peace  Coalition and founder of the Pacific Alliance for Prevention and Recovery. He is 4 years clean and sober  and through recovery has reconciled with his wife and 2 children.  

Check out his website at: https://www.tomwolf.org 

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José Salazar

José Salazar is the current HIV Director at the Sixteenth Street Community Health Centers in Milwaukee. 

Born and raised in Juarez Chihuahua, Mexico, Jose migrated to the US in 2004 and lived in El Paso TX for a year before he migrated to Milwaukee WI in 2005.

From 2005 through April 2007 Jose volunteered at the HIV Prevention Program at Sixteenth Street, facilitating information about prevention of HIV, STIs, and Hepatitis C (HCV) infections and assisting in the Syringe Exchange Program. 

On April 11, 2007, Jose became a staff member at Sixteenth Street in different capacities and has collaborated with community partners applying his experience on management, outreach, community relations, program development, events organization, health education, social services, case management, and other enabling services. 

Jose is bilingual in English and Spanish and has over 17 years of experience educating community members on Harm Reduction and Overdose Prevention, providing HIV and HCV testing, and facilitating connection to substance use disorder (SUD) services for people who inject drugs.


 

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