Dear Friend,
On International Overdose Awareness Day, we join millions around the world who mourn those whose lives have been cut tragically short because of the spread of dangerous drugs, as well as the loved ones they left behind. The victims deserve our commemoration, and their families need our comfort and compassion. But we must do much more than just mourn and grieve.
The human toll of the drug crisis is staggering, with more than 100,000 lives lost in the past year alone. Each one of these deaths was preventable, which gives urgency to our advocacy for prevention, treatment, and recovery support services.
Over the past two decades, our prevention infrastructure has effectively been dismantled, leaving teens with no counterbalance to pro-drug messaging in the popular culture. In the age of fentanyl, it is more critical than ever that youth understand the inherent danger in the drug supply, and it is crucial that teens learn healthy coping skills that may prevent them from experimenting with substances to deal with the stress and anxiety they may be feeling.
We must use the sense of community that today engenders to move the conversation beyond the benefits of a harm reduction only approach. Those interventions, like naloxone, surely deserve our enthusiastic support, but we have to do more. We have to ask the question, “What comes next?” after we revive someone, and we have to have the necessary linkages to detox and treatment. We must use this day as a rallying cry to meet people in their addiction, but we cannot leave them there.
For those who have developed a substance use disorder, we must make sure that quality treatment is available and affordable. This includes mental health services, as we have seen addiction rates increase amid the mental health crisis. For those in recovery, we need to strengthen community recovery support services and provide links to stable housing and job opportunities so that they can sustain their recovery.
Today, we call lawmakers at every level of government to do more to stop the spread of illicit substances. We also urge policy makers to chart a course forward that overcomes this crisis through a comprehensive approach that favors a wide range of responses, including demand reduction, supply reduction, treatment, and recovery.
Intervention alone will not stem the tide of this crisis. We can, and must, do more. Today must be a call to action.
