In the late winter of 2023, I had just finished a workout with the 9a CrossFit class. A tall fella stood at the end of the gym - dressed in all black, with a fresh pair of J’s on. I thought, “This is my guy.” 

This was Paul. Paul has been a senior writer at Rolling Stone for thirty years. He covered the NFL concussion scandal, including the Aaron Hernandez story, was the first to report the horror-show conditions at Walter Reade Hospital, and has written a series of stories that helped free innocent men who were doing life without parole in state prisons. He is the winner of two Genesis Awards and more than a half-dozen selections to the Best American Sports Writing anthologies, produced the Documentary hit “How to Fix a Drug Scandal” & has been a Pulitzer Prize and National Magazine Award finalist. 

Over the next weeks after we met, Paul spent time in Southern Ohio to learn about the breadth of the opioid epidemic and the overdose crisis and the small town, grass roots approach to reintegrating individuals with substance use disorders back into the community. 

Paul told that story in the most recent drop of Rolling Stone magazine. 

In Ep. 036, Paul talks about his experience in shedding light in the stories that happen in the dark. 

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