Recovery Month Film Screening: Love in the Time of Fentanyl

Please join us for a film screening of and panel discussion about a group of misfits, artists, and drug users operating a renegade safe injection site in Vancouver’s Downtown Eastside. 

Love in the Time of Fentanyl (2022 | Not Rated | 1 hour and 20 minutes) is an intimate portrait of a community fighting to save lives and keep hope alive in a neighborhood ravaged by the overdose crisis.

Director, editor, producer Colin Askey is a filmmaker who has spent the last decade documenting the transformative impact of humane policy on the lives of people who use drugs. Recent work includes HAVEN (2019), an award-winning short documentary about North America’s first prescription heroin therapy program in Vancouver.

Please register on this Eventbrite page.

Panelists

Colin Askey: Director Love in the Time of Fentanyl

Colin Askey is a filmmaker who focuses on issue-driven content for harm reduction, drug policy, anti-poverty, and social justice organizations. Recent work includes Haven, an award-winning short documentary set in Vancouver about North America's first prescription heroin therapy program.

Jim Duffy: Founder and Co-Director of Smoke Works

Jim Duffy is a nationally recognized advocate for advancing traditional harm reduction services. As director of Smoke Works, he has helped syringe service providers in over 40 states expand upon traditional approaches by incorporating pipe distribution for safer smoking. By advancing access to injection alternatives Duffy has created and promoted tools to address health inequities, overdose, and infectious disease among people who use drugs. Personal experience and time with Boston’s AHOPE Syringe Exchange formed a foundation for work focused on the intersectionality of stimulant use and HIV/HCV prevention.

Tehya Johnson: Nurse Practitioner, Boston Healthcare for the Homeless

Tehya Johnson, AGPCNP-BC is a Nurse Practitioner at Boston Health Care for the Homeless Program providing primary care, street medicine and harm reduction services to unhoused community members experiencing substance use disorders. She initially began working as an advocate with SIFMA Now to promote the establishment of overdose prevention sites in Massachusetts and continues this work currently. She is also a Board Member of MAAP in Cambridge, MA supporting their work providing material aid, drop in services and support to unhoused community members throughout the greater Boston area.

Dr. Bisola Ojikutu: Commissioner of Public Health, City of Boston, Executive Director, Boston Public Health Commission

Bisola Ojikutu MD MPH is a nationally recognized physician leader, health equity researcher, community advocate and expert in the prevention, care, and treatment of infectious diseases. Dr. Ojikutu was appointed Executive Director of the Boston Public Health Commission (BPHC) in July 2021.

As Executive Director of the BPHC, the City's health department, Dr. Ojikutu manages a budget of $162M and leads more than 1,300 employees to protect, preserve, and promote the health and well-being of all Boston residents, particularly the most vulnerable. Dr. Ojikutu is a key advisor to Boston's Mayor on health issues and builds innovative partnerships across city departments and within Boston’s communities to positively impact the health of all city residents. Among other public health priorities, she is committed to addressing racism as a public health crisis and advancing health equity.

Moderator

Brendan Little: Brendan Little Strategies; Activist, Filmmaker

Brendan Little has 12 years of experience in government. He served as the inaugural Policy Director for the Mayor's Office of Recovery Services (ORS) from 2016-2021, the City of Boston's office coordinating substance use recovery efforts across the city. ORS was the first municipal recovery office in the United States.

In 2021, Massachusetts Governor Charlie Baker appointed him to the Opioid Recovery and Remediation Fund Advisory Council, a body that will determine how the Commonwealth of Massachusetts will spend the millions of dollars from the state’s lawsuits against opioid manufacturers and distributors.

This program is presented in partnership by the Boston Public Library, RIZE Foundation, the City of Boston Mayor's Office of Arts and Culture, the City of Boston Mayor's Office of Recovery Services / Boston Public Health Commission, Brendan Little Strategies, and the City of Boston.

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