Episode description:

When Harm Reduction Becomes the Hill of Unnecessary Hurt: A Conversation with Tom Wolf | UHP S5E4

San Francisco housed 16,000 chronically homeless people. And 25% of all overdose deaths in the city happened inside that housing.

In this episode, Shane sits down with Tom Wolf, director of West Coast Initiatives at the Foundation for Drug Policy Solutions, senior fellow at the Discovery Institute’s Center on Wealth & Poverty working on homeless policy, and director of partnerships at Sunflower Sober, a recovery app blending telehealth, peer support and AI with over 100,000 active subscribers.

Tom was a middle class family man. Married with kids. Owned a home. Got addicted to opioids after foot surgery, blew through $100,000 on pills, switched to heroin when he couldn’t afford them, and ended up homeless on the streets of San Francisco. He got clean in jail, went to a six-month faith-based rehab, reconciled with his family, and is now eight years sober. He’s been to the White House six times in the last seven months advising the Office of National Drug Control Policy, HUD, and SAMHSA.

In this conversation we cover:

• 48 million Americans now addicted to drugs and what that means for policy
• Oregon’s 400% spike in overdose deaths under decriminalisation and the rollback of Measure 110
• The difference between harm reduction as one tool and harm reduction as ideology
• San Francisco’s recovery-first city ordinance and what other cities should learn
• The Drug Policy Alliance and how ideology has infected drug policy
• Why accountability is the cornerstone of recovery

Watch on YouTube
Listen on Spotify

Connect with Tom Wolf: tomwolfrecovery.com
Foundation for Drug Policy Solutions: gooddrugpolicy.org
Discovery Institute – Wealth & Poverty Center: wealthandpoverty.center
Sunflower Sober App: sunflowersober.com – Available on Apple and Google Play ($8.95 USD/month)