🏳️🌈 It’s Pride Month — and the fight to end overdoses is personal 🏳️🌈
John,
Here’s the good news: Overdose deaths fell by nearly 25% in the U.S. last year — from 114,000 in 2023 to 87,000 in 2024. That’s tens of thousands of lives saved.
Now here’s the bad news: 87,000 people still died. That’s 87,000 too many. And now the Trump administration wants to gut one of the key resources keeping that number from skyrocketing.
At the heart of this fight is Naloxone (Narcan), a life-saving medication that can reverse an opioid overdose in minutes. It’s widely available and has become a vital tool for first responders across the country.
Save a Life, Protect Access to Naloxone
A $56 million federal grant from the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) made this possible, helping fire and police departments train over 66,000 emergency responders and distribute more than 282,000 naloxone kits in 2024 alone.
But Trump’s budget slashes $40 billion from the Department of Health and Human Services — and on the chopping block is that $56 million grant. In his eyes, that’s “waste.” In reality, it’s a death sentence.
🪭🏳️🌈
Across the country, LGBTQ+ communities are facing a silent epidemic of accidental fentanyl overdoses. In cities across the country, queer and trans people have overdosed after unintentionally consuming fentanyl-laced substances. In New York, two gay men — John Umberger and Julio Ramirez — died after being drugged with fentanyl-tainted drugs at nightclubs. These were not isolated events.
And in response, our communities stepped up. Drag performers and grassroots activists are teaching harm reduction from behind the mic and under the stage lights. They’re saving lives.
One of them is Kochina Rude — and she’s here to show you how.
🎥 Watch Kochina’s “How to Reverse an Overdose” 🎥
▶️ Watch & Share This Powerful Message on Instagram
We need Congress to stop this cruel and senseless cut before more lives are lost.
Tell Congress: Keep Funding Naloxone to Save Lives
Use the toolkit below to share this petition with your friends on the social network of your choice.
LGBTQ+ communities are facing a silent epidemic of accidental fentanyl overdoses. This #Pride Month, can you join me in taking action to defend access to the life-saving overdose reversal drug, Narcan? @thedreamcorps
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📍 Want to carry Naloxone? 📍
Find Where to Get it Near You
Learn the Facts — Fight Fentanyl with the Truth
This Pride Month, protect the people and the tools that protect us. Let’s save lives, together.
Solidarity is fabulous 🏳️🌈
— Dream.Org
