National Harm Reduction Coalition creates spaces for dialogue and action that help heal the harms caused by racialized drug policies. | |
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+ SUPPORTING THE RIGHTS AND WELL-BEING OF PEOPLE WHO USE DRUGS ACROSS BORDERS: At the first 2024 Binational U.S./México Synthetic Drug Consumption Conference in México City, NHRC Executive Director Laura Guzman joined harm reductionists and health care officials in discussing communal connections across "false borders" and commitment to supporting people who use drugs. The conference, organized by the U.S. Embassy & Consulates in México, included presentations and panels Laura spoke on. The North American (Canada and the U.S.) and northern México’s harm reduction presentations, including those from Verter AC, PrevenCasa AC, and Programa Compañeros, A.C. (Ciudad Juarez), showcased our collective dedication to uplifting the needs and rights of people who use drugs.
A focal point of the conference was naloxone accessibility, as it is classified as a schedule 1 drug in México — considered an opiate with no medical use, and not legal for general distribution. NHRC extends our deep gratitude to Dr. Jaime Arredondo Sanchez Lira, from the Canadian Institute for Substance Use Research at University of Victoria, who brought the dream teams together to participate and share knowledge and to the México-based U.S. Embassy conference organizers, Maria Luisa Romero, Alejandro Álvarez, and their team, who treated us with respect and kindness. We continued this conversation at our first bilingual SoCal Regional Harm Reduction Convening in El Centro, California, where we gathered alongside organizations from Imperial, San Bernardino, and Riverside counties and harm reduction programs such as Verter AC, to plan out a border harm reduction collaborative.
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+ HONORING THE BELOVED LATE CECELIA GENTILI: NHRC's Lighthouse Learning Collective (Lighthouse), a space for strategy, support, and resources for lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, gender non-conforming people (LGB/TGNC+) who use drugs, honored the late legend, Cecilia Gentili:
"This year has gotten off to an incredibly difficult start. Last month, we experienced the harrowing loss of the wonderful Jeanie Williams, and this month, only a mere week after celebrating her 52nd birthday, we are devastated to report that Cecilia Gentili has also passed. Expressing and assessing her impact on our communities is tough because she offered so much. She gave everything to make sure that people were taken care of: Trans people, sex workers, immigrants, and people who use drugs — all of the communities that the world seeks to diminish and demean. We’re talking about the woman who started the COIN Clinic (Cecilia’s Occupational Inclusion Network) at Callen-Lorde to provide free care to sex workers! Lighthouse embarked on a journey to create the Gender-Affirming Care Toolkit for harm reduction programs in NYC with Cecilia and her team at Trans Equity Consulting last year, and we feel so fortunate to have had her help us make our vision come to fruition. Cecilia, thank you for everything. Rest in power."
Join Lighthouse's quarterly e-newsletter here. |
+ NE LOOKS SET TO ALLOW SYRINGE PROGRAMS: Nebraska is taking a big step forward with the movement of a bill that would allow syringe services in the state — a move that would prevent transmission of bloodborne diseases like HIV or hepatitis C. Currently, the state has no syringe services programs (SSPs), which are proven to reduce the spread of life-threatening diseases — particularly among people who use drugs. NHRC is proud to have supported local advocates on the ground in the state to make this possible. Read more from Filter here.
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+ CELEBRATING BLACK HISTORY AND BLACK FUTURES: The harm reduction movement exists today because of Black activists, many of whom were LGBTQIA+ folks who used drugs. The movement blossomed because of them, and harm reduction's present — and future — are made possible because Black activists made it so. Follow along on our social media handles and our main website blog to learn from some of the pioneers who envisioned and brought the Black Harm Reduction Network to life.
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+ SUPPORT RADICAL LOVE IN 2024: As we embrace the season of love and compassion, we find ourselves deeply moved by the transformative power of radical love within our community. In this time of celebrating love, we are compelled to reflect on the profound significance of extending compassion and solidarity to individuals who use drugs and communities affected by the devastating effects of the so-called "War on Drugs" — a war, in truth, waged upon people.
This Valentine's season and beyond, we humbly ask you to join us in embodying the spirit of love by contributing to our harm reduction efforts. Together, let us be the change we wish to see, spreading a message of compassion and support to every corner of our community. Your generosity holds the potential to save countless lives and embody the very essence of radical love in action.
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+ SHARING LOVE FOR OUR EVERYDAY VALENTINES: Harm reduction is love. It's a kind of love that transcends stigma and "not in my backyard" (NIMBY) attitudes, and saves lives every single day. We're filled with love and gratitude for the harm reduction community, and will continue to use radical love as our lens. We were overjoyed to share the love for our community on Valentine’s Day!
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+ INTERNATIONAL HARM REDUCTION SUPPORT: NHRC joined many other organizations condemning abusive anti-drug operations and detainments in Sri Lanka. Read the joint statement shared by Harm Reduction International here.
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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: Sex Workers With HIV Can Be Branded 'Violent Sex Offenders' In 1 State. DOJ Is Suing To Change That. — Criminalizing HIV is wrong, and yet there are still laws on the books that do just that. These laws especially impact Black and Latine/x communities, particularly Black transgender women and sex workers.
“People living with HIV should not be subjected to a different system of justice based on outdated science and misguided assumptions," as noted in this Huffington Post story.
+ NEWS: Americans believe migrants bring fentanyl across the border. That’s dangerous and wrong — Straight to the point, this piece in the Los Angeles Times notes, "The facts are that a drug overdose epidemic is killing more than 100,000 Americans a year and that far more migrants are crossing the country’s southern border than ever before. The lie is that the migrants are bringing fentanyl...Most illicit fentanyl is indeed made abroad and smuggled over the southern border. But it’s largely transported by U.S. citizens, not migrants." With election season around the corner, anti-immigrant and xenophobic rhetoric is amping up. This narrative that distorts actual data and folks with lived experiences does nothing to save lives, and further endangers U.S. citizens, undocumented folks, and asylum seekers.
+ NEWS: Critics bash Breed’s measure to mandate drug screening for SF welfare recipients — Dr. Marlene Martin, director of the addiction care team at University of California San Francisco and NHRC board member, joined substance use treatment providers and medical professionals during a press conference to warn of the life-threatening, dire consequences of a ballot measure in San Francisco that would mandate drug screenings for welfare recipients if passed.
"I have seen addiction and overdose worsen when people lose support systems and that is what Proposition F threatens to do," she said.
Threats to bodily autonomy, privacy, and basic needs of survival anywhere are a threat to these rights everywhere. More from the San Francisco Chronicle here.
+ NEWS: Eliminating Hepatitis C: A Virus with Unequal Impact — The Nonprofit Quarterly's coverage cites NHRC for the well-established principle that syringe services programs (SSPs) and free syringe services for people who inject drugs are crucial and effective in preventing hepatitis C (hep-C), which is primarily transmitted through the sharing of syringes.
"By making screening for hep-C available and accessible...those infected get crucial treatment and can reduce the risk of further spreading the infection," as noted in the article.
+ NEWS: How Oregon Became a Linchpin for the Country’s Drug Policies — As well said by Maia Szalavitz in The New York Times piece, "If we really want to end the overdose and homelessness crises — in Oregon and around the country — we have to understand and follow the evidence, not the fearmongering."
To ignore evidence, health care best practices, and people's lived experiences is to continue the deadly "War On Drugs," more accurately described as a war on people. Measure 110 is a massive step in the right direction. Read more here, including perspective from NHRC's Board of Directors Vice Chairperson Alex Kral.
+ NEWS: Supreme Court Case Will Profoundly Impact Homelessness in 2024 — Housing is a human right, full stop. January happened to be Poverty Awareness Month, and we're in a place right now where being houseless is already criminalized — and could become more so, pending a U.S. Supreme Court case. We should be ending houselessness and supporting people living in poverty, making it possible for them to get out of poverty — not criminalizing them for systemic failures to provide people basic human rights.
As read in Filter: "'Homelessness is growing not because cities lack ways to punish people for being poor, but because a growing number of hard-working Americans are struggling to pay rent and make ends meet,' said the National Homelessness Law Center in a January 12 statement, responding to the news that the Supreme Court would hear the case."
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+ NATIVE HARM REDUCTION: Native/Indigenous harm reduction folks: Join NHRC and Arlene Brown of Skoden Native Harm Reduction Services for technical assistance each Wednesday through March! The free sessions, covering a range of topics and needs — including indigenizing harm reduction, destigmatizing services, and creating overdose reversal kits — start at 1 p.m. PT. Join the sessions here. For more information, email Arlene at [email protected] or call 760-258-6981.
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+ RESOURCES: -
People Place and Health Collective (PPHC), a research collective of Brown University’s School of Public Health, has launched a website with downloadable fact sheets outlining the many ways in which overdose prevention centers have been proven to prevent overdose deaths and provide other life-saving and life-affirming health care and well-being needs. See the website here.
- The Drug Users Bible [Extended Edition], which outlines harm reduction, risk management, and personal safety, is now available online. Click here to read.
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The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) recently reported syphilis is at the highest level since the 1950s with over 200,000 new cases, and a 1,000% increase in infants born with syphilis. Birthing people with syphilis are more likely to be unhoused, living in poverty, or have issues with their substance use. Highly accurate rapid point-of-care fingerstick tests are available for syphilis, and treatment is also available with either penicillin or doxycycline.
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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: -
NHRC’s annual Peer Foundational Training Program kicks off April 2 and runs through June 11 at our office in midtown Manhattan. Trainings take place all day every Tuesday and cover most basic harm reduction topics. Peers are expected to attend all of the trainings to participate in the program. If you or the peer workers you work with would like to sign up please, reach out to Community and Capacity Building Manager, Hiawatha Collins, at [email protected] before 12 p.m. EST Monday, March 18.
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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, “Medications for Opioid Use Disorder (MOUD) 101,” happening March 29, 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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