Summary of Beth Macy's Raising Lazarus

By IRB Media

Please note: This is a companion version & not the original book. Book Preview:

#1 The idea that people are beyond redemption is a common stigma, and it can be difficult to determine where stigma ends and rational thought begins. For drug users, who often hide from society because of their habits, this can be literal death.

#2 In North Carolina, the needle exchange program operates out of a double-wide trailer donated by a nearby Presbyterian church. The couple gives away needles on the sly, pretending to be a food pantry that operates from the back of their pickup truck.

#3 Harm reduction is about treating users as human beings, not just transactions. It’s about providing them with supplies so they can stop using drugs, and helping them get into treatment if they want it.

#4 Many harm reductionists, like Mary, prefer to use a personal, behind-the-scenes approach rather than in-your-face activism. They see this as another version of meeting politicians, law enforcement, and the community of those who use drugs where they are - a nonjudgmental stance that most don’t extend to law enforcement.

• Language: English
• Publisher: IRB Media
• Release date: Aug 27, 2022
• ISBN: 9798350017274

IRB Media

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Insights on Beth Macy's Raising Lazarus

Contents

Insights from Chapter 1

Insights from Chapter 2

Insights from Chapter 3

Insights from Chapter 4

Insights from Chapter 1

#1

The idea that people are beyond redemption is a common stigma, and it can be difficult to determine where stigma ends and rational thought begins. For drug users, who often hide from society because of their habits, this can be literal death.

#2

In North Carolina, the needle exchange program operates out of a double-wide trailer donated by a nearby Presbyterian church. The couple gives away needles on the sly, pretending to be a food pantry that operates from the back of their pickup truck.

#3

Harm reduction is about treating users as human beings, not just transactions. It’s about providing them with supplies so they can stop using drugs, and helping them get into treatment if they want it.

#4

Many harm reductionists, like Mary, prefer to use a personal, behind-the-scenes approach rather than in-your-face activism. They see this as another version of meeting politicians, law enforcement, and the community of those who use drugs where they are - a nonjudgmental stance that most don’t extend to law enforcement.

#5

In 2020, Garry Dolin was taking daily methadone to stave off cravings. He’d been sober for three years. He’d met Mathis at a Rose’s department store to get needles, in the middle of a four-day binge.

#6

In Surry County, the middle ground between drug users and the power structure didn’t exist. Few leaders cared to look inside the trailers and trap houses where the most severely addicted lived.

#7

In 2005, the funeral of