END THE OVERDOSE CRISIS: Harm Reduction Advocates Demand Action

Statewide Coalition of Syringe Exchange Programs Take Action on International Overdose Awareness Day to Demand an End to the Overdose Crisis 🤬Last year, California had nearly 10,000 overdose deaths, with death rates the highest among Black and Native Americans and with more and more young people dying. As the overdose crisis rages on in our state, now is not the time to cut the only state investment into harm reduction program staffing. Cutting harm reduction funding sends the message that the lives of people who use drugs are disposable. 🧐 The legislature cut funding used to staff low-barrier harm reduction programs. The decision to cut CHRI will affect over 75,000 Californians who receive services at 1,000 unique sites in 42 counties. 🗣California’s $308 billion 2022-23 state budget does not include the word overdose one time despite it continuing to be the leading cause of accidental death in California. 📢Governor Newsom vetoed SB 57, a bill that would have allowed three CA cities to pilot Overdose Prevention Programs (LA, Oakland, SF). Over 50 harm reduction programs that are part of the California Syringe Exchange Programs (CASEP) Coalition participated in collective action on August 31st on International Overdose Awareness Day to demand that the state legislature and administration take action to end the overdose crisis. Syringe exchange programs from across the state hosted rallies and dropped banners in high-traffic areas using the taglines: Every Overdose Is A Policy Failure and Overdose Death Is Preventable: Fund Harm Reduction. This action is in response to the state legislature’s decision to cut funding for the California Harm Reduction Initiative, a pilot program that invested in staffing for harm reduction programs to increase navigation to treatment and other healthcare services. The August 31st action was also in response to Governor Newsom’s veto of the Overdose Prevention Programs (OPP) bill, SB 57, which would have permitted three California cities to open state-sanctioned OPPs. California Syringe Exchange Programs (CASEP) Coalition is a mutual-aid and advocacy network of syringe services providers and participants who work collectively to build strong harm reduction programs and who organize to reduce the harms of the racialized war on drugs and drug use at the individual and community level. Harm reduction programs are able to provide these services successfully because they offer high-quality, evidence-based health care services and acknowledge that doing so with extremely marginalized and stigmatized people requires building trust, encouraging autonomy, and centering health and wellbeing. Harm reduction honors bodily autonomy, and CASEP believes people’s right to health, safety, and well-being should not be dictated by their drug use. Harm reduction organizations provide various life-saving services, from overdose prevention education to providing sterile and safer drug use supplies. Most harm reduction programs operate on a shoestring budget but still provide access to wound care supplies, referrals, and connections to housing; substance use disorder treatment and other social services; help with system navigation; and support people’s basic needs with food, clothing, and hygiene supplies. Harm reduction organizations are dedicated to ending the overdose crisis by providing life-saving overdose reversal medication, naloxone, as well as education on how to prevent, spot, and reverse overdoses. To learn more, please visit Saving Lives of Sex Workers and Addicts on Skid Row: Sidewalk Project America’s First Supervised Drug Consumption Site ================================== Subscribe here: Invisible People’s website: Support Invisible People: On Patreon: Invisible People’s Social Media: @invisiblepeopletv Mark Horvath’s Twitter: About Invisible People: We imagine a world where everyone has a place to call home. Each day, we work to fight homelessness by giving it a face while educating individuals about the systemic issues that contribute to its existence. Through storytelling, education, news, and activism, we are changing the narrative on homelessness.