SMART Policy Podcast

SMART Initiative
  • 0.0 (0)
  • SCIENCE

Podcast by the UT SMART Initiative. Host Jeremy Kourvelas speaks with experts from across the recovery ecosystem - representing healthcare, prevention, law enforcement and more - about local, state and federal drug policy to find out what is and isn't working to make this fight against addiction a little easier. 

  1. What the Brain Disease Model of Addiction Gets Right — and What It Misses

    MAR 1

    What the Brain Disease Model of Addiction Gets Right — and What It Misses

    Something really has changed over the past twenty years, especially in the last ten. Our culture has increasingly come to accept the idea that addiction is a chronic, treatable disease, not a moral failure. Secretary RFK Jr. of the Dept. of Health and Human Services said this almost word-for-word just about a month ago when President Trump signed the Executive Order establishing the Great American Recovery Initiative, adding that for too long we have treated substance use disorder with “fragmentation, stigmatization and silence instead of science, compassion and coordination.”In the field of science, both clinical and academic, this is often referred to as the “brain disease model of addiction,” based on the definition of a disease as a condition that changes the structure or function of at least part of an organ or system. However, though this framework has done a lot to reduce stigma and increase the acceptance of evidence-based treatment, you don’t have to go looking very long before you see that our healthcare, housing, and criminal justice systems are still stuck in the past. And on top of that, the recovery community itself remains split on what it even means to have the disease of addiction.My guests this month are Dr. Kirsten Smith, a researcher and clinical social worker who found recovery and earned her doctorate after going to prison for robbing banks in order to pay for heroin, and Dr. Stephen Loyd, Chief Medical Officer of Cedar Recovery and Chair of the Tennessee Opioid Abatement Council, who is also in recovery from opioid and benzodiazepine use disorder. Dr. Smith was recently featured in an article by the Guardian, wherein she offered some intriguing criticisms and limitations of the brain disease model, and it caught our attention at the SMART Initiative, as well as that of Dr. Loyd. Fortunately, the two agreed to come onto our show for a deep dive, and as you can see, this episode turned out to be longer than normal. It also contains some concepts that some might find controversial. Additionally, though we frequently discuss drug use on this show, we get a bit up close and personal to the topics of cravings, recovery, and more, so some listener discretion is advised. And as always, this episode is intended to be educational, showcases the personal opinions of the guests, and does not reflect any opinion or belief of the University of Tennessee.That being said, I found this conversation to be insightful and challenging, with compelling takeaways for everyone, no matter where they stand on the matter. Learn more:Dr. Stephen Loyd: https://www.cedarrecovery.com/dr-stephen-loyd/ Dr. Kirsten Smith: https://www.theguardian.com/news/2025/sep/04/bank-robber-scholar-knoxville-change-addiction Dr. Alan Leshner’s 1997 paper on the brain disease model of addiction: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/9311924/ “Behave” by Robert Sapolsky: https://www.sackett.net/sapolsky_behave.pdf SMART: www.smart.tennessee.edu Listen on Apple: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/smart-policy-podcast/id1642539321 Listen on Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/5qbzONIr0hlWxiQsPwkXHM Listen on Soundcloud: https://soundcloud.com/smart-initiative

    1h 28m
  2. When There's No License to Lose: How Tennessee Teens Are Still Buying Vapes

    JAN 31

    When There's No License to Lose: How Tennessee Teens Are Still Buying Vapes

    Ask just about any teacher or parent about what concerns them, and you’ll hear about vaping. According to the Tennessee Dept. of Health, 22% youth admit to vaping, which is a rate more than twice the national average. 22 counties across the state have identified nicotine, tobacco or youth vaping as one of their top health concerns in recent health assessments. An additional 46 counties identify substance use or mental health, especially of youth, as top concerns, and research widely associates teen tobacco product use with these issues. In recent years, Tennessee has passed numerous laws to restrict youth vaping, including limiting products to just the list of FDA-approved devices, banning sales to anyone under 21, restricting marketing and significantly increasing punishments for breaking these laws. However, despite a reference in the law to revocation of a license as a potential penalty, there is no licensing system to sell tobacco products in Tennessee. Last year, Tennessee also charged the Alcoholic Beverage Commission, or ABC, with conducting compliance checks on vape sales, as well as regulating hemp-derived cannabinoid products. Since launching that work, they have found a state average compliance rate of only 82%, meaning a lot of youth are slipping through the cracks and illegally buying vapes. My guests this month are Aaron Rummage of the TN ABC and Jamie Kent, Chair of Smokefree Tennessee, the state’s official nicotine prevention coalition. In this conversation, we talk about the ins and outs of tobacco retail licensure, a policy option that could potentially improve transparency, compliance, youth prevention, and more. We also talk briefly about how recent federal actions might change the availability of hemp-derived cannabinoid products in Tennessee. Learn more:Tennessee ABC: www.tn.gov/abc Smokefree Tennessee: www.smokefreetennessee.com SMART: www.smart.tennessee.edu Listen on Apple: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/smart-policy-podcast/id1642539321 Listen on Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/5qbzONIr0hlWxiQsPwkXHM Listen on Soundcloud: https://soundcloud.com/smart-initiative

    40 min
  3. Equipping Communities for Recovery: Inside Tennessee’s Lifeline Peer Project

    JAN 1

    Equipping Communities for Recovery: Inside Tennessee’s Lifeline Peer Project

    In our last episode, we heard from Andi and Tanner Clements from Uplift Appalachia that churches and communities want to help with recovery, but most don’t feel equipped to take on the challenge. There’s also the persistent fear that they might get things wrong. The Tennessee Lifeline Peer Project, a statewide effort by the Tennessee Department of Mental Health and Substance Abuse Services Office of Faith-Based Initiatives, is making a massive impact in providing that vital information, training, and connection to resources. Through their team of 20 coordinators across the state, they have had a significant impact on reducing stigma and strengthening local support. My guests this month are Jessica Youngblom, Director of Strategic Initiatives, and Jaime Harper, Director of Faith-Based Initiatives. In this conversation, we talk about why the Lifeliners are having a huge impact, the challenges faced by the communities they serve, how little things can make huge differences for people in recovery, and how the long term outcomes from this work can last deep into the future. Original music by Blind House. Hosted and produced with additional scoring by Jeremy Kourvelas.Learn more:TN REDLINE: 1-800-889-9789TN Lifeline Peer Project: https://www.tn.gov/behavioral-health/faith/lifeline.html SMART: www.smart.tennessee.edu Listen on Apple: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/smart-policy-podcast/id1642539321 Listen on Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/5qbzONIr0hlWxiQsPwkXHM Listen on Soundcloud: https://soundcloud.com/smart-initiative

    38 min
  4. Uplift Appalachia: Equipping and Empowering the Church to Support Recovery

    12/01/2025

    Uplift Appalachia: Equipping and Empowering the Church to Support Recovery

    This is the kind of dilemma that faces many people in Tennessee: staying in recovery while trying to rebuild a life, but resources are limited and local public transportation is not reliable or readily available. This has been identified in dozens of needs assessments across the state as a major barrier to recovery. This is where many people believe that church can have a massive impact. Andi and Tanner Clements of Uplift Appalachia think so too. For a few years now, their church and others they have mentored have provided transportation to courts, recovery meetings, job trainings and more, with the goal of helping people not only survive, but thrive. Uplift Appalachia provides education, training, consulting, and connecting to churches and organizations, motivating and equipping them to love and serve those living with addictions, mental health, and other life challenges on their journey to flourishing. They also have a three year grant to cross-train faith, health, and social service communities about addiction and trauma. As always, this episode is intended to be educational. Any opinions or views or specific language presented in this episode does not reflect the opinion of the University of Tennessee.Original music by Blind House. Hosted and produced with additional scoring by Jeremy Kourvelas.Learn more:Uplift Appalachia (including Intrinsically Motivated podcast): https://upliftappalachia.org/ Clements, A. D. (2023). The Trauma Informed Church: Walking with Others Toward Flourishing: 2nd Edition with Study Guide. Uplift. ISBN: 979-8-9870371-1-9.Clements, A. D., Clements, T., & Hedrick, M. J. (2025). Interpersonal connection and medication for opioid use disorder (MOUD): Does the endogenous opioid system inform the etiology and treatment of addiction? Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=5363291 or http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.5363291 Clements, A. D., Cyphers, N. A., Whittaker, D. L., Hamilton, B., & McCarty, B. (2021). Using trauma informed principles in health communication: Improving faith/science/clinical collaboration to address addiction. Frontiers in Psychology: Health Psychology, 12, Article 781484 https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2021.781484 Clements, A. D., Cyphers, N. A., Whittaker, D. L., & McCarty, B. (2021). Initial validation and findings from the willing/ready subscale of the Church Addiction Response Scale (CARS). Frontiers in Psychology: Health Psychology, 12, Article 733913. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2021.733913Listen on Apple: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/smart-policy-podcast/id1642539321Listen on Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/5qbzONIr0hlWxiQsPwkXHMLastly, the SMART Initiative empowers communities to overcome the overdose crisis and build a healthier Tennessee where individuals impacted by substance use can thrive. Our annual Week of Giving is December 15th-19th, wherein we will be accepting charitable donations that are matched up to $15,000. Your gift would support ongoing zero-cost training and technical assistance to local governments and community partners to implement evidence-based opioid abatement strategies, continued development of interactive mapping of recovery resources across the state, and research, analysis, education and outreach on substance use prevention, mitigation, and other health initiatives. Visit giving.tennessee.edu/smart today to donate, or contact Kristen Davis at 865-974-9609 or at kristen.davis@tennessee.edu. Thank you for your consideration and support!

    49 min
  5. Funding Recovery Behind Bars: Bipartisan Solutions for Jail-Based Treatment

    11/03/2025

    Funding Recovery Behind Bars: Bipartisan Solutions for Jail-Based Treatment

    It is increasingly well understood that the criminal justice system is one of the most significant and valuable intervention points for getting people into recovery. When people are given access to the services they need to enter and maintain recovery, the success stories are common. But providing those resources in jails can be tough, especially in small, rural counties. For one, there are a number of policies and laws that jails have to consider when seeking funding for resources. And worse, when addiction goes unaddressed - whether due to cost, or lack of local services, or more, recidivism tends to be higher, which makes the problem even more expensive, and even tougher for counties to solve. Our guest this month is Libby Jones, Associate Vice President of the Overdose Prevention Initiative. Her organization is currently working with the U.S. Congress on three bipartisan federal bills that seek to improve this situation: the Re-Entry Act, the Due Process Continuity of Care Act, and the Peer Support Act. In this conversation, we talk about what these bills seek to do and how they could potentially benefit county governments, the ongoing history of bipartisanship at the federal level when it comes to fighting the overdose crisis, how Tennessee legislators have been leaders in this fight, and finally, how the best policies come from the local level. As always, this episode is intended to be educational, and is not to be taken as an endorsement or rejection of any legislation. Any opinions or views or specific language presented in this episode does not reflect the opinion of the University of Tennessee.Original music by Blind House. Hosted and produced with additional scoring by Jeremy Kourvelas.Learn more:Overdose Prevention Initiative: https://www.advocacyincubator.org/program-areas/injury-prevention/overdose-preventionThe Re-Entry Act: https://www.congress.gov/bill/119th-congress/house-bill/2586Due Process Continuity of Care Act: https://www.congress.gov/bill/119th-congress/house-bill/1510Peer Support Act: https://www.congress.gov/bill/119th-congress/house-bill/2741/text SMART: www.smart.tennessee.eduRelated reading: Critical Issues in Policing 2025: Opioid Deaths Fall as Law Enforcement and Public Health Find Common Ground (https://perf.memberclicks.net/assets/Opioids2025.pdf) LISTEN HERE: https://open.spotify.com/show/5qbzONIr0hlWxiQsPwkXHM

    40 min
  6. Listen to the Front Lines: Why Drug Policy Needs to be Bold and Flexible

    10/01/2025

    Listen to the Front Lines: Why Drug Policy Needs to be Bold and Flexible

    West Virginia has been often described as “ground zero” of the opioid epidemic, largely because of the explicit targeting of the state by Purdue Pharma for its aggressive marketing of OxyContin.First Responder Jan Rader, long-time champion in the fight against the overdose crisis and the first woman to serve as Fire Chief in West Virginia, disagrees. At the 2025 Syndemic Summit held in Huntington, she said to the crowd “we were just the first to talk about it.”In this conversation, we discuss why naloxone remains important even as new drugs like medetomidine are found across the country, how the importance of mental health for first responders is growing exponentially, and the policy issues that keep us from adapting to shifting drug trends, among other topics, like how even though we have been saving lives with naloxone, there are people surviving with anoxic brain injuries and we are underestimating this impact as part of the disease process of substance use disorder. Original music by Blind House. Hosted and produced with additional scoring by Jeremy Kourvelas.Books mentioned in this episode:Chasing the Scream by Johann HariCompassionomics: The Revolutionary Scientific Evidence That Caring Makes a Difference by Stephen Trzeciak and Anthony MazzarelliLearn more:Jan Rader’s TED Talk: https://www.ted.com/talks/jan_rader_in_the_opioid_crisis_here_s_what_it_takes_to_save_a_lifeJan Rader in TIME Magazine: https://time.com/collection/most-influential-people-2018/5238151/jan-rader/ Syndemic Summit: https://communityeducationgroup.org/syndemic-summit/ SMART: www.smart.tennessee.eduLISTEN HERE: https://open.spotify.com/show/5qbzONIr0hlWxiQsPwkXHM

    40 min
  7. The Recovery Navigator: Connecting ER Patients to Hope in Sumner County

    09/02/2025

    The Recovery Navigator: Connecting ER Patients to Hope in Sumner County

    When it comes to any large government program targeting health, social, and cultural issues, there are always concerns that the money won’t be spent well. The opioid settlements are no exception. So when a program involves multiple community partners, a transparent and collaborative decision-making process, and is based on the local data, the rate of success tends to be high. This is what makes Sumner County’s approach so remarkable. After finding out that Highpoint Health hospital alone received over 50% of all overdoses brought in by EMS, they hired a Substance Use & Recovery Navigator to join the emergency department and help connect overdose survivors with local resources and treatment. The program also includes funding to get people help at Volunteer Behavioral Health - located right across the street from the hospital - and a “Box of Hope” containing naloxone, an up-to-date local recovery resource guide, and other tools provided by the Sumner County Prevention Coalition. And this is just a part of the county’s overall overdose response plan that they are funding with opioid settlement dollars. My guests this month are Justin Werlick, Substance Use & Recovery Navigator, Dr. Geoffrey Lifferth, Chief Medical Officer for Highpoint Health with Ascension Saint Thomas, Haylee Mcphearson-Bush, VP of Operations of the Middle/West regions for Volunteer Behavioral Health, Meagan Griffith, Director of the Sumner County Prevention Coalition, Charlotte Hollis of the Sumner County Health Department, and Dr. Dustin Owens, Grant Accountant for the Sumner County Budget Committee. In this episode we talk about how all of these vital partners were brought together, how concerns were addressed - including the fear of duplication or supplantation of existing services - and why they are working to make naloxone more available to the community than ever before. We also discuss the larger barriers that people needing recovery face, including not only the lack of connection between existing resources, but the gaps in healthcare coverage that keep people from getting the help they need. Original music by Blind House. Hosted and produced with additional scoring by Jeremy Kourvelas.Learn more:Highpoint Health Announcement: https://www.highpointhealthsystem.com/news/coalition-receives-grant-to-support-opioid-overdose-crisis-interventionsSumner County Opioid Abatement Committee: https://sumnercountytn.gov/opioid-abatement/ Volunteer Behavioral Health: https://volunteerbehavioralhealth.org/ Sumner County Prevention Coalition: https://sumnercoalition.org/ SMART: www.smart.tennessee.eduLISTEN HERE: https://open.spotify.com/show/5qbzONIr0hlWxiQsPwkXHM

    51 min
  8. Family, Recovery, and the Real Appalachia: A Conversation with Andi Marie Tillman & Trent Coffey

    08/11/2025

    Family, Recovery, and the Real Appalachia: A Conversation with Andi Marie Tillman & Trent Coffey

    If you’ve ever worked in the field of recovery in East Tennessee, there’s a strong chance you’ve met Trent Coffey, executive director of the Schools Together Allowing No Drugs, or STAND, Coalition in Scott County, TN. And if are connected to Appalachia and use Instagram, TikTok or YouTube, there’s an equally strong chance you’ve encountered his cousin, Andi Marie Tillman, a comedian, actor and musician who is known for her wide array of relatable characters. As it happens, Andi Marie is a person in recovery, and knows first hand what it feels like to need help from the medical system in Tennessee - and how difficult it can be to get that help. In this special episode, we talk about Andi Marie’s recovery journey, Trent’s extensive career in drug prevention, the opioid crisis in rural Appalachia, how culture plays a role, opioid settlements, federal funding cuts, and as always, policies that might make this battle against addiction a little easier. We even dive into some Coffey family lore. We also filmed this episode, and will soon be releasing the video version on our soon-to-launch YouTube channel, so stay tuned for that release. Finally, we decided to include some content that we normally wouldn’t. Consider it behind-the-scenes or bloopers. These two are just too funny to not share that with you - and plus, it shows the real Appalachia you don’t typically see on TV. As always, any views and opinions expressed in this episode do not reflect those of UT. Original music by Blind House. Hosted and produced with additional scoring by Jeremy Kourvelas.Learn more:STAND Coalition: https://www.standcoalition.com/aboutAndi Marie’s Instagram: @andimarietillmanAndi Marie’s YouTube: @andimarie7554Scott County Opioid Abatement: https://scottcounty.com/opioid-settlement-funding/ SMART: www.smart.tennessee.eduLISTEN HERE: https://open.spotify.com/show/5qbzONIr0hlWxiQsPwkXHM

    1h 24m
See All (43)

About

Podcast by the UT SMART Initiative. Host Jeremy Kourvelas speaks with experts from across the recovery ecosystem - representing healthcare, prevention, law enforcement and more - about local, state and federal drug policy to find out what is and isn't working to make this fight against addiction a little easier. 

Information

  • Creator
    SMART Initiative
  • Episodes
    43
  • Rating
    Clean
  • Copyright
    © 2026 SMART Policy Podcast
  • Show Website
    SMART Policy Podcast