Lorinda Spooner
January 27th, 2026
“To try to find meaning out of all this suffering,” is the impulse behind Examining Room: Within the Walls of the Opioid Crisis (Friesen $9.99), a raw and compassionate poetry collection by Dr. Lorinda Spooner. A specialist in addiction medicine with three decades in frontline care, Spooner has worked everywhere from Baffin Island and Haida Gwaii to Vancouver’s Downtown Eastside, drug court, jail system and hospital addiction services. Her poems emerge from the exam room as witness—honouring the pain, dignity, resilience and humanity of those living with addiction in the shadow of an escalating opioid crisis. Both unflinching and humane, Examining Room reflects Spooner’s lifelong commitment to underserved communities and her belief that even amid profound loss, meaning can still be found. 9781038316493
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