A panel of experts on opioid addiction treatment urged lawmakers this week to push for drug consumption sites in Massachusetts, an idea that Gov. Charlie Baker has said he will not pursue because such sites are "illegal under federal law."

The panel included representatives from Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston Medical Center and certified recovery coaches, and officials discussed personal experiences before taking questions from the audience about the next steps to address the opioid epidemic and its deadly toll.

"I think we need to embrace more harm reduction interventions, really focusing on supervised consumption sites as a big gaping hole in our continuum of care," said Dr. Laura Kehoe, medical director of the Bridge Clinic at Massachusetts General Hospital.

Many of the suggestions were in line with the recommendations the Harm Reduction Commission made in its final report this month.

Gov. Baker has dismissed supervised consumption as a waste of time.

"I would like to focus on the stuff that we can do now, which is a long list of pretty significant and successful initiatives. Chasing something that's not legal under federal law just doesn't make a lot of sense," Baker said this month.

Panelists did not lay out a clear path for accomplishing their goals, but said the epidemic's toll requires continued attention and new approaches.

"I don't know what we should do. I'm part of the Boston Users Union, are we going to start following them around with coffins?" said Paul Bowman, a certified recovery coach and person in long-term recovery from addiction. "A friend of mine died two weeks ago, my partner died eight years ago, I just can't go to any more funerals."

Sen. Cindy Friedman said the first step is to get the Legislature on board with safe injection sites, then deal with the governor.

Panelists also discussed increasing access to fentanyl strips, and in general, working to reduce stigma.

Michael Botticelli, executive director at the Grayken Center for Addiction at Boston Medical Center, and a person in long-term recovery from addiction, spoke about the importance of being open about struggles with addiction to friends and family, to humanize addiction.

"We've known addiction is a disease for a very long time, but as long as we think about this as a disease of other, we are going to continue to look at this as an issue around bad people doing bad things," Botticelli said.

The panel discussion followed a screening of the new documentary, NOVA Addiction, which covers the work of scientists and doctors as they look into how addiction affects the brain, and effective ways to treat it as a disease, not a moral failing.

The writer, director and producer of the documentary, Sarah Holt, spoke about seeing the struggles of addiction as she worked with treatment providers in Boston.

"It was a little bit shocking to me, because you know I live in Boston and the opioid crisis, I knew it was happening but I hadn't seen it this close," Holt said.

Sarah Mackin, the director of harm reduction services at AHOPE Needle Exchange, thanked Holt for her work on the documentary.

“It’s so important to put a human spin on this story,” Mackin said. “Because no matter where you are in the world, if you’re a legislator whose picked up this topic and run with it, like Rep. Liz Malia and so many others, or those of us who are on the front lines as harm reductionists, treatment advocates, doctors, it’s really just about compassion and it’s about treating the whole person.”