The #RecoveryFirst Podcast with Mike Todd and Marc Burrows from Challenges Inc.The #RecoveryFirst Podcast with Mike Todd and Marc Burrows from Challenges Inc.
The Recovery First Addiction Recovery Podcast by Freedom Recovery Services of Greenville
Mike Todd talks with harm reduction advocate Marc Burrows about syringe exchange, medication-assisted treatment and the real-life costs of criminalising addiction. Their discussion highlights how basic services, non-judgement and practical support can save lives and reduce health and economic harms.
1:11:41•13 Aug 2021
Harm Reduction, Syringe Exchange and the Real Cost of the Drug War
Episode Overview
- Harm reduction services such as syringe exchange, naloxone and fentanyl test strips reduce HIV, hepatitis C and overdose deaths while connecting people to support.
- Medication-assisted treatment with medicines like suboxone can provide stability and long-term recovery, even for those who have tried abstinence-based programmes many times.
- Criminal records, fines and restricted job access make it significantly harder for people in recovery to rebuild their lives and can drive relapse.
- The healthcare cost of untreated hepatitis C and related conditions far outweighs the cost of basic harm reduction tools like sterile syringes.
- Genuine harm reduction relies on non-judgemental, compassionate engagement, meeting people where they are rather than pushing recovery before they are ready.
“"$9.6 million is what me and my five friends cost the healthcare system because we didn’t have a syringe that cost $0.09."”
How do people find strength in their journey to sobriety? This conversation from The Recovery First Addiction Recovery Podcast centres on harm reduction, syringe exchange, and what it really takes to keep people alive long enough to reach recovery. Host Mike Todd chats with Marc Burrows from Challenges Inc., a South Carolina harm reduction nonprofit, about their syringe services and the now-iconic harm reduction bus in Greenville.
The tone stays relaxed and friendly, with plenty of humour about dead batteries, fishing Fridays, and “no more drug war” t-shirts, but the content is anything but light. Marc shares his own history of trauma, losing his sister to a drunk driver at nine years old, and how that loss fed into heroin use, multiple arrests, and 13 failed treatment attempts.
His turning point came with medication-assisted treatment: suboxone gave him the stability he needed to build a life and eventually run an MAT clinic. As he puts it, he now treats addiction as “a health problem, not a criminal problem”. The episode digs into barriers people face after addiction, from criminal records blocking jobs to banks refusing basic accounts. Marc explains how these systems “make it much harder” for people to become stable citizens, despite claiming to be about rehabilitation.
Harm reduction is laid out in plain terms: sterile syringes, naloxone, fentanyl test strips and genuine non-judgement.
Marc explains that people linked with syringe services are far more likely to seek treatment, and he backs it with a stunning example: “$9.6 million is what me and my five friends cost the healthcare system because we didn’t have a syringe that cost $0.09.” If you’re curious about syringe exchange, MAT, or you care about both recovery and public health, this conversation gives you plenty to think about and some very practical reasons to care.
Where do you stand on keeping people safe while they’re still using?
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