During the AIDS crisis in the early 1980s, U.S. cities, including San Francisco, adopted harm reduction strategies like needle exchanges to combat the spread of infection among drug users. Despite initial success, the city faces ongoing challenges regarding homelessness and addiction. This episode follows Evan, a man whose life spiraled due to fentanyl addiction, highlighting the stark contrast between his past stable life and his current struggles. As he attempts recovery, changes in city policy towards a less tolerant approach further complicate the situation for individuals in similar positions.
"At the onset of the AIDS crisis in the early 1980s, U.S. cities began trying new ways to stop the spread of infection among drug users. Ideas that were first seen as radical, such as needle exchanges, quickly caught on-because they worked."
"Before Evan's life began to look how it does now, before spending all day and all night chasing fentanyl, it looked pretty normal. For a lot of people who are addicted and living on the street, this is not the case; even the idea of a stable life is kind of an abstract thing."
"But when fentanyl took hold of him, when he lost the job and the apartment, part of him thought it was only a matter of time before the scale of that loss woke him up, forced him back on the right track. But it seemed to have the opposite effect."
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