Ferrum College will host Beth Macy in “Saving Ourselves: A Symposium on the Opioid Epidemic” on October 1 in the Blue Ridge Mountain Room on campus. Copies of Macy’s newest book Dopesick: Dealers, Doctors, and the Drug Company That Addicted America will be for sale at 6:30 p.m. At 7 p.m., Macy will read excerpts from her book. Panel discussion, reception and book signing will follow. This event is free and open to the public.
Panel participants include Sharon Buckman of Piedmont Community Services; parent and activist Carolyn Hauck; Stacy Gill of the Virginia Department of Behavioral Health and Development Services; Martha Haley-Bowling of Ferrum College and Radford Counseling Group, LLC; author Beth Macy; Franklin County Sheriff Bill Overton; Debbie Powell of Franklin County Department of Social Services; Pam Rickard of The Herren Project; and Lana Whited of Ferrum College.
Beth Macy is a longtime reporter and has won more than a dozen national journalism awards, including a Lukas Prize for New York Times-bestseller Factory Man, multiple shortlist and best-book-of-the-year honors for Truevine, and a Nieman Fellowship for Journalism at Harvard for her newspaper writing. Tom Hanks has described her work in Dopesick as “a deep — and deeply needed — look into the troubled soul of America.”
“If the federal government wouldn’t step in to save Appalachia, if it steadfastly refused to elevate methods of treatment, research, and harm reduction over punishment and jail, Appalachia would have to save itself.” — from Dopesick by Beth Macy.
Macy’s evening book reading and the panel discussion follow a National Association of Social Workers, Virginia Chapter (NASWVA) continuing education program for regional social workers from 1 p.m. to 5 p.m. at Ferrum College. Registration for the NASWVA Opioid Symposium is open until September 28 and a fee is required. To register, visit https://www.naswva.org/ferrum-college-addiction-training.
