National Harm Reduction Coalition creates spaces for dialogue and action that help heal the harms caused by racialized drug policies. | |
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+ NHRC CO-DEVELOPS STUDY FOCUSED ON FENTANYL HARM REDUCTION STRATEGIES: Expanding life-saving education and tools is crucial to harm reduction efforts across California and beyond. NHRC, California Harm Reduction Initiative (CHRI) programs, and RTI International collectively developed a study published by the "Drug and Alcohol Dependence" journal, highlighting promising harm reduction strategies related to fentanyl.
The report, which brought together participants from over 30 Syringe Services Programs (SSPs) and researchers from RTI International, shows people who injected fentanyl were 40% more likely to have experienced a non-fatal overdose and 253% more likely to have had a skin and soft tissue infection over the previous 90 days. Read the full report here.
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+ REPORT EXAMINES WAYS TO IMPROVE DATING APP EXPERIENCES RELATED TO DRUG USE: NHRC partnered with Building Healthy Online Communities and other public health leaders to create a report addressing drug use on dating apps as part of an anti-stigma project titled “NiceAF." A total of 270 dating app users were surveyed, and respondents included people reporting a range of drug use practices. Survey participants voted on proposed new features apps can utilize, including security features, filtering by substance use comforts/practices, adding health resources, and improving content moderation. Check out the report here.
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+ MEMORIALIZING HOUSELESS PEOPLE: As we mourned those we have lost on Homeless Persons' Memorial Day, we named the dangers people who are houseless face every day and night. Everyone deserves to have a roof over their head, and housing is a human right. Harm reduction strategies help combat these risks. |
+ DEMANDING SAFETY FOR SEX WORKERS: Sex workers deserve safety and freedom from abuse. This International Day to End Violence Against Sex Workers and every day, we honored those whose lives were stolen, while also lifting up the reality that sex workers face abuse, threats, harassment, and systemic barriers to support. To illuminate these realities, we shared excerpts from "Towards Bodily Autonomy: A Healing Justice Anthology Decolonizing Sex Work and Drug Use," collected by Justice Rivera.
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+ UPLIFTING INTERSECTIONAL HEALTH AND SAFETY NEEDS: Survivors of trafficking, sex workers, and people who use drugs do not live single-issue lives, and their safety, health, and well-being needs overlap — just like their experiences can. This Human Trafficking Awareness Day and every day, we were called to support survivors long after headlines have faded and court cases have passed, and encourage folks to learn more from organizations including the National Survivor Network and Freedom Network USA, which support survivors and communities in responding to trafficking.
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+ CONFERENCES AND EVENTS: -
NHRC is hosting our monthly national Peer Gathering Cohort, now known as PeerUp, after hearing the need for peers nationally to have a space to connect, talk, and network. The sessions — which take place the first Monday of each month — are open to peers with lived/living experience only at no cost, and folks from around the U.S. are welcome to join. Together, we'll work to build a support system through the states. Come as you are, this will be a non-judgmental space! To join, contact Capacity Building + Hepatitis C Coordinator, Jose Martinez, at [email protected].
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+ NEWS: US opioid crisis: Hope for new approach as naloxone machines spread in 2023 — "The trend began in the US only five years ago, in 2017, with a vending machine programme in Nevada. But...similar programmes had already existed for years in Europe, Australia and even Puerto Rico," Al Jazeera English reports on harm reduction vending machines.
"'The United States is sort of behind everyone in this aspect,' she said. 'In terms of harm reduction vending machines, these have been implemented for decades all over the world. And so these implementations in the United States are just beginning.'"
+ NEWS: How Are Opioid Settlement Funds Being Spent So Far? — NHRC joined over 130 organizations and more than 200 scientists calling for opioid settlement funds to directly support life-saving harm reduction measures.
As named in Health Affairs via Open Society Foundations, "Opioid settlements present an opportunity to reaffirm — or restore — the public’s faith in governments’ ability to spend public health dollars effectively. The public will want to see these funds making a tangible difference in their communities. This will not happen if money is spent on counter-productive drug war interventions that work at cross-purposes with public health efforts. We must hold decision makers accountable to use these hard-won funds as a catalyst to change the trajectory of the way we approach overdose."
+ NEWS: Oregon Syringe Program Fights On, After Shutdown for “Enabling” — "Sometimes folks will express concern that syringe exchanges are encouraging drug use or bringing folks to an area, but when we can talk about their fears and concerns and share info that we have about syringe exchange, generally the response has been, 'I understand, what you’re doing helps prevent infections and helps folks engage.'"
Harm reduction, which includes syringe services programs (SSPs), is health care. The more people understand this, the more lives we can save and communities we can support. Read more from Filter here.
+ NEWS: When People Ask Harm Reductionists, “What About Treatment?” — "What about treatment?" is a question that continues to be brought up in response to the overdose epidemic. This Filter piece takes a look at what treatment actually looks like in this country, the many barriers to accessing treatment where it is even available, and how important it is we recognize this is not a one-size-fits-all approach.
"...while treatment is a needed support for many people, it will never meet all the needs of everyone who uses drugs, even those with addictions." |
+ TOGETHER, WE ADAPT AND THRIVE: NHRC's Lighthouse Learning Collective joined advocates at the Ending the Epidemic/World AIDS Day Summit in New York, where events highlighted transformative efforts to support people living with or impacted by HIV/AIDS, sexually transmitted infections (STIs), and hepatitis C (HCV), while also honoring those we have lost to HIV/AIDS.
As noted by Lighthouse, "Without the queer and trans advocates, activists, and harm reductionists to raise hell and demand their right to be recognized as worthy of dignity, respect, and care, we would have lost so many more." |
+ RESOURCES: -
NHRC requests organizations add or update their information on the Naloxone Finder map in an effort to ensure the resource is up-to-date. To add a new program, click here. To update existing program information on the map, please fill out this form. We appreciate your support in spreading the word about these life-saving materials!
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+ TRAININGS AND WEBINARS:
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NHRC’s Lighthouse Learning Collective is hosting the next Lighthouse Learning Series, “Abolition and Harm Reduction,” on Feb. 16! Come hear the radical roots and collective story of Liberatory Harm Reduction and learn from the life-affirming practices of people who use drugs, people in the sex trade and street economy, sex workers, people who self-injure, have eating disorders, have disabilities or are chronically ill — all radical political organizers who have taught us how to save our own lives and fall in love with each other's survival strategies. At a political moment when Liberatory Harm Reduction and mutual aid are more important than ever, this workshop gives us space to think through how we apply Mariame Kaba's "discipline of hope" in our precious abolitionist work and movement spaces. The session will have live ASL interpretation, and will not be recorded. Register here. Priority will be given to those living and working in NYC due to program scope, but those who would like to build on their harm reduction knowledge to provide better service to LGB/TGNCNB (Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual/Transgender, Gender Non-Conforming, Non-Binary) folks are welcome to register. For information about other sessions and recordings of previous webinars, click here.
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NHRC is thrilled to offer monthly Foundational Fridays training sessions, which focus on building basic knowledge about various intersectional public health issues. The free sessions, running from 12 p.m. to 2 p.m. EST the last Friday of each month, are for providers, peers, and anyone in the harm reduction community as well as anyone looking to learn more about the field. To sign up for the next session happening tomorrow, Jan. 26, visit this link. Stay tuned for more details about the trainings, happening through June! For more information, contact Jose Martinez at [email protected]. The rest of the training schedule dates are as follows, with registration links included below:
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+ NHRC staff members are working with NYC CBA to facilitate a half-day SSP Institute Jan. 30, from 12 p.m. to 2 p.m. EST. This institute will consist of harm reduction topics including overdose prevention and xylazine, Medication for Opioid Use Disorder (MOUD), and community engagement and empowerment. Join us in a panel discussion with people who have lived/living experience and others working to increase access to harm reduction resources and supportive services for communities disproportionately impacted by substance use. Register here.
+ NHRC’s Housing and Shelter Capacity Building Coordinator (O-PRESH), Alixe Dittmore, is facilitating the training “HIV, Harm Reduction, and Youth Engagement” as part of the National Alliance for HIV Education and Workforce Development (NAHEWD)’s webinar series, “Bridging HIV and Substance Use Disorder: Innovations in the Field” on Feb. 2. The training will provide an updated lens on the current state of HIV and substance use in the United States, and participants will discuss rates of HIV amongst people who use drugs and unique factors that can impact health outcomes. The session will also highlight guidelines for prevention and meaningful engagement for risk reduction for people who use drugs and youth who are living with HIV. Register for the session here.
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