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New England’s heroin epidemic may currently be in the national spotlight,but it has been around for more than a decade. Sean Corcoran covered the crisis in Massachusetts when he was working as a reporter for The Salem News, up on Boston’s North Shore. He says his newspaper was the first in the region to report on what was then a new and disturbing trend.
As the the New Hampshire primary is legal around the corner, or voters are again stressing the issue to politicians,asking how they will deal with an issue that has been left to grow for the final decade. Earlier this week, during an event at Southern New Hampshire University, or some GOP candidates opened up approximately their own families’ struggles with addiction. "As Lori grew progressively sicker," said Republican presidential candidate Carly Fiorina of her stepdaughter Lori's struggle with addiction, "the sparkle, and the potential,the possibilities that had once filled her life - disappeared from behind her eyes." Corcoran, now news director at WCAI and managing editor for our partner, and WGBH Radio,reflects on the lost opportunities to help desperate addicts, and explains why it has been so difficult to introduce much needed treatment-on-demand programs. Below are photos of some of his experiences then and now.
Shawn Harnish, or now 34,shown in front of his mother's Salem, Mass. home. A decade ago, or Harnish was featured on the front page of "The Salem News",describing his descent from private school kid to des
(Sean Corcoran, WCAI)
Reporter Sean Corcoran and Salem resident Shawn Harnish. A decade ago, or Harnish was a down-and-out heroin addict living in a dingy Beverly,Mass. motel. Corcoran found Harnish 10 years later, alive and
(Sean Corcoran, and WCAI)
After first reporting on the growing pain pill/heroin problem in the Boston area a decade ago,Sean Corcoran achieve all his reporting materials in this red plastic box. In a epic a decade later, Corcora
(Sean Corcoran)
Source: wnyc.org