Bill Myers

After two decades of the opioid crisis, small towns like this one are barely breathing. If they’re going to survive, they’re going to have to rely on people who’ve taken their own journeys through the underworld. Read More

Most epidemics start with a patient zero. Here in northwest Illinois, the opioid epidemic features a doctor zero. About 10 miles west of Dixon, up Route 2 and following the Rock River, under the shadow cast by the husk... Read More

For a long time, the police of Ronald Reagan’s hometown did their best to arrest their way out of their drug problem. It became a war of attrition — and the opioids won. A few years ago, Lee County authorities charged... Read More

Opioids have overwhelmed rural Illinois. Desperate, the cops in Ronald Reagan’s hometown have stopped arresting people and started getting them help. In an exclusive series, The Well News looks at “Safe Passage,” a... Read More