Tracey Helton Mitchell is an American public health worker and author.[1][2] In her teens and twenties she struggled with opioid use disorder and appeared in the documentary Black Tar Heroin. Mitchell stopped using drugs at the age of 28.[2] As of 2017 she managed a public health program in San Francisco.[2] In 2016 she published a memoir, The Big Fix: Hope After Heroin.[1]
Mitchell also received media attention in 2017 for mailing naloxone to drug users she connected with through web forums. At the time this was illegal, as naloxone is a prescription drug. Mitchell viewed it as an act of civil disobedience in the midst of an opioid overdose epidemic.[2][3] Mitchell is on the board of NEXT Harm Reduction, which does similar work, inspired by her example.[4]
Mitchell is an alumna of San Francisco State University, earning a bachelor's degree in business administration in 2005 and a master's in public administration in 2007.[5] Mitchell is married and has three children. She lives in Daly City.[5]
References
edit- ^ a b "An Addict, Now Clean, Discusses Needle Exchanges And 'Hope After Heroin'". Fresh Air. March 8, 2016.
- ^ a b c d Bonifield, Elizabeth Cohen,John (October 2, 2017). "How the 'heroin heroine' saves lives from her living room". CNN.
{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link) - ^ "Meet the 'heroine of heroin' who is fighting America's drug crisis". TODAY.com.
- ^ Szalavitz, Maia (2019-03-01). "How One Group Is Expanding Access to Overdose-Reversing Drugs Through the Mail". VICE. Retrieved 2024-10-25.
- ^ a b "Tracey Helton Mitchell | CSU". www.calstate.edu.