Soft White Underbelly interview and portrait of Rey Aslam, a substance use researcher at Brown University in Providence, Rhode Island. Get 40% off access to world-wide perspectives on today’s biggest news stories. Subscribe through my link https://ground.news/swu to unlock your unlimited monthly account today.  For ad-free, uncensored videos and plenty of exclusive content please subscribe to the Soft White Underbelly subscription channel at https://softwhiteunderbelly.com. It's $10 a month and watchable on Apple and Android mobile apps, Roku TV, Apple TV and Amazon Fire. 0:00 – Stigma Of Addiction 0:40 – Ray’s Background 2:14 – Near-Death Overdose 4:24 – Entering Research 5:31 – Ground News Ad 7:00 – How Oxys Became Fentanyl & Xylazine 8:50 – Losing Friends 10:04 – Why Recovery Is Physically Hard 16:25 – Trauma As The Core Issue 20:47 – Cost Of Living, Survival & Mental Health 23:52 – Family Trauma 27:07 – Tough Identity & Survival Strategies 30:11 – Connection As Healing 32:05 – Punitive Culture vs Compassionate Models 36:05 – Untapped Intelligence 38:23 – Why Lived Experience Matters In Research 39:01 – We Are Still Losing The Fight Here's how to purchase the Soft White Underbelly books and merch: https://softwhiteunderbelly.org #swu #softwhiteunderbelly #documentary #marklaita #rhodeisland #recovery #providence