OUR MOVEMENT IN MOTION
April 25, 2024


SECTION 1: News and Announcements

+ JOIN OUR CALIFORNIA FOCUS GROUPS: Calling California BIPOC (Black, Indigenous, People of Color) friends! We're seeking BIPOC adults (21+) living in several cities to join us for focus group sessions to discuss overdose and other health issues and needs in your area. The next focus groups, which will meet virtually and in person, will be hosted Monday, April 29, Tuesday, April 30, and Monday, May 6, 2024. For in-person location details and to apply, visit this link. For more information, email [email protected]. We hope to see you there!

Link: bit.ly/CAFocusGroupScreener


+ SHOWING UP FOR TRANS PEOPLE TDOV AND BEYOND: As we honored and uplifted the beauty and joy of trans people on Trans Day of Visibility, we noted that we must commit to collectively transforming our world so trans people can live their lives free from violence, harassment, and fear — a world where trans people aren't forced to be resilient, and can simply live their lives in peace. BIPOC women and femmes continue to experience the heaviest burden of anti-trans abuse and rhetoric and the hypervisibility that comes with this. It's on all of us, in harm reduction and beyond, to unequivocally support trans, gender non-conforming, and non-binary people every day. Visit the NHRC main website to see our resources for LGBTQIA+ folks, and check out other materials from Advocates for Trans Equality, a merger of the Transgender Legal Defense & Education Fund and the National Center for Transgender Equality.

Links:
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+ UPLIFTING NATIONAL YOUTH HIV & AIDS AWARENESS DAY: This National Youth HIV & AIDS Awareness Day and always, we named how we must listen to the needs of young people and their experiences and provide them with the resources and information they need to stay safer and healthier. There is no room for stigma, judgment, or inadequate education.



+ CONFERENCES AND EVENTS: 

-Harm Reduction International has announced its 2025 conference, happening April 27 through April 30, in Bogotá, Colombia. Learn more about the conference details here.

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-Association for Multidisciplinary Education and Research in Substance use and Addiction (AMERSA) is hosting its 48th annual conference Nov. 14 through Nov. 16, 2024, in Chicago. Conference registration will open in early June 2024. Visit the conference webpage via this link.

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-NHRC is hosting our monthly Peer Gathering Cohort, PeerUp, after hearing the need for peers nationally to have a space to connect, talk, and network. The cohort 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, email NHRC’s Capacity Building + Hepatitis C Coordinator, Jose Martinez, at [email protected].



+ NEWS: Drug use resource hub opens in north Minneapolis after state legalizes safe injection sites — Harm reductionists around the country (and world) are getting it done — saving lives, supporting the health and well-being needs of people who use drugs, and working to support the empowerment of entire communities. A new resource hub in Minneapolis for people who use drugs opened this month, providing sterile syringes, fentanyl test strips, naloxone, and more. Participants can shower, cook a meal, and do laundry, and some may use drugs on site where staff are trained to reverse overdoses, as noted in Star Tribune.

"'We're really trying to just focus on being a resource for people who use drugs to access no-barriers services,' Hamlin said, emphasizing that he would allow clients and the surrounding community to dictate how the center is used."


+ NEWS: Activists Pushing for Pennsylvania to Finally Authorize Syringe Programs — Decades of research and folks' lived experience prove Syringe Services Programs (SSPs) prevent deaths, improve health, and support the well-being of people who use drugs. In Pennsylvania, advocates are working to make these life-saving programs an explicitly sanctioned reality.

As noted in this Filter story, “Participants are five times likelier to enter treatment programs than non-participants, thanks to referrals. Sterile syringe access not only cuts transmissions of blood-borne diseases, but protects people from other injection-related harms like endocarditis and infected wounds. And despite often being accused of causing 'syringe litter,' SSP(s) reduce it—both by hosting disposal boxes and by conducting their own local cleanups."

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+ NEWS: Federal Court Grants DOJ Request to Dismiss Safehouse SCS Challenge — Life-saving health care shouldn't be up for debate. Overdose prevention centers, also known as safe consumption sites, have proven to save lives, connect people to medical care, treatment, housing placement, and other support services.

Filter noted, “A study published by the American Medical Association (AMA) in 2022 found that the recently opened New York City facilities had decreased the risk of overdose, steered people away from using drugs in public, and provided other ancillary health services to people who use drugs...Rahul Gupta, the White House 'drug czar,' previously said the Biden administration is reviewing broader drug policy and harm reduction proposals, including the authorization of SCS, and went so far as to suggest possible drug decriminalization.”

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+ NEWS: Spokane Eyes Involuntary Treatment for Anyone Revived With Naloxone — Research has proven time and time again mandatory treatment is not only ineffective in supporting people struggling with drug use, but is harmful.

"When it involves forced detox at the kind of inpatient programs being described here, it is likely to raise the overdose risk for many people by lowering their tolerance then putting them back out on the street, where they will immediately go find the substance they did not intend to stop using in the first place," this Filter story notes.

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+ NEWS: Touching fentanyl won’t kill you. Why won’t cops and policymakers get the memo? — We repeat: Touching fentanyl or proximity to it cannot make you overdose. Myths about fentanyl "exposure" lead to misguided legislation that protects no one, and further endangers people who use drugs.

As noted in Salon, “Rampant and stubborn mythologies about the contact risks of fentanyl have already created confusion and anxiety in the American public. People need fact-based education about real risks, rather than worrying about fantastical narratives which only stir up panic. At the very least, we can choose not to codify this fiction into laws that will further harm people who use drugs, while protecting no one.” Learn more about fentanyl and myths on our website's resource center.

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+ NEWS: Philly’s Law-and-Order Policy Worsens Overdose Crisis and Hinders Harm Reduction — Covering racism, classism, state-sanctioned violence, and the disregard of bodily autonomy, this story from Truthout names intersecting issues people who use drugs face and how the latest expansion of the so-called "War on Drugs" in Philadelphia, aka a war on people, continues to cause death and harm. This kind of escalation perpetuates overdose deaths.

Link: [link removed]-[LIST_EMAIL_ID]&fbclid=IwZXh0bgNhZW0CMTEAAR02aeqRxhHOj8JuLcOrBRlUI-yP6i-_EgQ8o0pE9MtxjOn4LUqXsGeIeRQ_aem_AfGukITyJ57pygimyChsePw-Lb3WD45uuTpxXnuK6iwMBG4MIurh6Yar-8IOOVYxChyja9TTsyKTC9kijXjXEb4v


+ NEWS: Overdose Deaths Swell Among SF’s Maya Residents, Highlighting Urgent Need for Culturally Competent Drug Health Services — As noted in this San Francisco Public Press coverage, Yucatán people in San Francisco, CA area have been left behind, facing barriers that prevent folks from accessing the care and information they need.

The story points out that, "After discovering the gap in knowledge over Latinx and Indigenous drug use, Zepeda partnered with Laura Guzman, executive director of the National Harm Reduction Coalition, and Dr. Carlos Martinez, a public health and medical anthropology researcher from UC Santa Cruz, to conduct a study with funding from San Francisco’s Department of Public Health."

Link: [link removed]


+ NEWS: HIV is no longer a death sentence. But states still have laws targeting people who live with it. — Criminalization is not an effective response to public health, whether that be in relation to drug use or HIV/AIDS, and criminalizing people violates their human rights. Still, as noted by The 19th News, 34 states have laws criminalizing people living with HIV in some way, "policies that largely arose in the 1980s and ‘90s, driven by fear, homophobia and a lack of medical answers. But significant advancements in HIV treatment have drastically changed a person’s health outlook. Over the years, critics say, these laws have become another tool to criminalize Black people, LGBTQ+ people and sex workers, which are groups that already face discrimination in public health care and law enforcement.”

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SECTION 2: Emergent and Exciting Work

+ SUPPORTING LGBTQIA+ PEOPLE WHO USE DRUGS: Harm reduction programs everywhere must be supportive of LGBTQIA+ participants and their needs. NHRC's LGBTQIA+ Health & Harm Reduction Manager, Taylor Edelmann, who manages the Lighthouse Learning Collective, provided the training "Supporting LGBTQIA+ Participants in Harm Reduction" at OnPoint NYC recently, helping to ensure programs cultivate more inclusive environments for LGBTQIA+ people who use drugs and do sex work. Interested in trainings like this? Visit our website for more and to book a learning session.

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+ DISCUSSING SAMHSA’S NEW METHADONE RULES: NHRC’s Community and Capacity Building Manager, Hiawatha Collins, joined co-panelists for Yale School of Medicine’s special session, “SAMHSA’s Final Rule on Methadone: Implications for Implementation, Patient Outcomes, & Future Directions." Watch the recording here.

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+ GENDER-AFFIRMING CARE IS HARM REDUCTION: NHRC’s Lighthouse Learning Collective has developed the “Navigating Access to Gender Affirming Hormone Therapy” guide in collaboration with community partners, including the Alyssa Rodriguez Center for Gender Justice, Miss Jai Smith, Dana Fleetham, G Wallner, Sruti Mohan, Ray Stevens, and Han Hamel.The guide provides information on different types of Gender-Affirming Hormone Therapy medications and how to use them, how to vet and source medication, considerations for those going the do-it-yourself route, how to find support and tips to guide you whether you’re taking hormones or not, and how to lower your legal risk. Read the guide as a PDF here, and as a flip book here.

Lighthouse will be holding a webinar Wednesday, May 8, 2024 from 12 p.m. to 1 p.m. EST to share more about the guide from those who made it possible. Register for the session here.

Links:
bit.ly/LLCGAHTGuide
bit.ly/LLCGAHTFlipbook
bit.ly/LLCGAHTWebinar


+ NATIONAL SSP SURVEY RESPONSES NEEDED: Calling all Syringe Services Programs (SSPs), we need your feedback! NHRC, in collaboration with the North American Syringe Exchange Network (NASEN) and RTI International, launched the 2024 National Survey of Syringe Services Programs (NSSSP). Tracking SSP budgets and other data over time helps us advocate for more resources. Participating programs will be mailed a $125 check after completing the survey. Check your inbox for an email invitation from [email protected], and see FAQs for more info in English and Spanish. Respond today with your experiences!

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-IN CASE YOU MISSED IT: NHRC teamed up with Arlene Brown of the Bishop Paiute Tribe to create the Native Harm Reduction Toolkit, which was informed by tribal and urban Native people from across California and brings resources together from Indigenous harm reduction leaders across the country and beyond. Check it out here.

Link: bit.ly/NativeHarmReductionToolkit



+ RESOURCES AND REPORTS:

-Harm Reduction International released its report “The Death Penalty for Drug Offences: Global Overview 2023." Among other main findings, it notes that 34 countries still have the death penalty for drug offenses, and over 467 people were executed under these laws in 2023.

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-The SSM - Qualitative Research in Health journal published a study titled, “Financial barriers, facilitators, and strategies among syringe services programs in the U.S., and their impact on implementation and health outcomes” aimed to note how the existing funding impacted “determinants of SSP [Syringe Services Programs] implementation, particularly describing financial and staffing barriers, facilitators, and proposed strategies, using qualitative methods informed by three implementation research frameworks.”

Link: [link removed]


-NHRC’s Online Learning Center includes on-demand courses, including Foundations of Harm Reduction, Overdose Prevention and Response, Engaging People Who Use Drugs, and more. NHRC also offers free modules for NYC residents, which cover safer use, stimulants 101, and wound care.

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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 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, “HCV/HIV 101,” happening tomorrow, April 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 in hyperlinks below:

Drugs 101 — May 31
LGB/TGNC 101 — June 28

Links:
bit.ly/HIVHCV24
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If you support emergent and exciting work at National Harm Reduction Coalition, please join our community of monthly donors, the Harm Reduction Champions! Become a Harm Reduction Champion Today.

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SECTION 3: Work for the Movement


+ The Baltimore Harm Reduction Coalition is hiring an Executive Director.

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+ The Colorado Health Network, Inc., is searching for an Integrated Care Behavioral Health Clinician.

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+ The Drug Policy Alliance (DPA) is hiring a Chief Operating Officer.

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+ GLIDE SF is looking to fill several roles, including:
-MAT Navigator
-Harm Reduction Case Manager
-Health Systems Navigator

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+ Housing Works is hiring a Case Manager and Program Manager – Mental Health Counseling (LMSW/LCSW).

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+ OnPoint NYC is hiring for multiple roles, including:
-Outreach Specialist
-Playsure Peer Workers
-Harm Reduction Navigator – SAMHSA

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+ The University of California San Francisco (UCSF) is hiring a Behavioral Health Clinician to join its Addiction Care Team.

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Hiring? Send us a note about open positions in harm reduction to [email protected] to have a job post shared here.


National Harm Reduction Coalition
243 Fifth Avenue
Box 529
New York, NY 10016
United States

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