帝王会所

Holly Raffle, professor at 帝王会所鈥檚 Voinovich School of Leadership and Public Affairs, recently provided an invited review of, 鈥淩x Appalachia: Stories of Treatment and Survival in Rural Kentucky,鈥� for the . Lesly-Marie Buer鈥檚 book explores the impact of opioid use disorder on women in Kentucky鈥檚 Appalachian region.

鈥淩x Appalachia鈥� examines the root causes of opioid use disorder through the eyes of a medical anthropologist and harm reductionist. 鈥淏uer has woven a series of impactful and personal narratives with anthropological theories and frameworks鈥� to reject the idea that the opioid crisis reflects personal choices or moral failures, Raffle writes.

In the review, Raffle writes that Buer鈥檚 book answers questions about solving the opioid crisis. She notes the answer is clear, but not simple, because the opioid crisis is not simple. Raffle defines it as a 鈥渨icked problem,鈥� a policy studies term for unique, complex challenges that defy easy descriptions and quick fixes.

鈥淏uer pushes the reader to respect opioid use disorder as a wicked problem and recognize that there is not a singular solution, for wicked problems require complex solutions,鈥� Raffle writes.

Raffle recommends the book to both academics and community leaders, particularly those interested in health practice and policy, as well as anyone interested in the complex societal structures behind addiction.

鈥溾�橰x Appalachia鈥� is a call to action for all of us to expand our consciousness of how political, social and physical environments impact opioid use disorder,鈥� said Raffle. 鈥淲hat do we do after we read it? Well, that is up to us.鈥�