Harm Reduction Coalition is thrilled to release the Know Overdose campaign that will be coming to the streets of San Francisco soon!

The DOPE Project collaborated with people who use drugs to develop guidance and community-specific messaging to expand overdose prevention education in a way that centered people who are most at risk, highlighting the lifesavers of San Francisco: people who use drugs.

SHAPING THE CAMPAIGN

We spent several months talking to people who use drugs in different neighborhoods and venues in San Francisco where we have seen the highest overdose rates. As part of the process, we shared photos of different campaigns that have already been developed to see what resonated with community members from examples that already exist. From there, we learned that there were a few key components that were important:

• There isn't a one-size-fits-all so the campaign needs to have different kinds of messaging for different communities
• Information and facts are still impactful and useful
• Drugs and drug equipment should be realistic (no 5cc huge syringes!),
• People in the campaign should be real people and not staged, so people can see themselves in the campaign, and
• Posters in transportation hubs, bus stations, and bars are most impactful

"This campaign was inspired, shaped, and ultimately created by people who use drugs in San Francisco. They were involved in every step of the process - from telling us what they wanted to see and how they wanted to see it, what they wanted everyone to know, what they wanted to learn, and how they wanted to see themselves and their community. These are their faces and their strategies, stories, and lives, and each person featured in this campaign has helped ensure the safety and survival of their fellow San Franciscans. This work often goes unnoticed by the community-at-large, and they do it without notice or compensation, every day. Thousands of people survive their overdoses every year in our city because of people who use drugs and harm reduction workers."
- Kristen Marshall, DOPE Project Manager

"These posters make us feel like this city has not forgotten us. That San Francisco DOES care about all its inhabitants. The images offer us a critical and essential message to those of us who find ourselves at risk in this epidemic, either with our own lives or the lives of our loved ones, that this complicated and unrelenting struggle does not have to be a lonely one."
- Miss Ian, SFDUU

KNOW OVERDOSE CAMPAIGN MATERIALS

We’d especially like to thank…. SFDUU, Glide, Urban Services YMCA and HopeSF, The Hunter's Point Family/Urban Alchemy, The Stud SF, The Luggage Store Gallery & Tenderloin National Forest, San Francisco Department of Public Health, Miss Ian, Eliza Wheeler, Katie Burk, Niyok, Johnny, Tony, Iona, Bizkit, Kelani, Katie, Priscilla, Frank C., Mark, Frank A., Andre, Ali, Ramona, Big O., Wahoo, Mike, Mattie, Bonnie & Pat, Janesta, Lolo, Blue, Sophie, Lex, Finley Kipp, and Judy Balmin. Finally and most importantly, thank you to our harm reduction community in San Francisco for entrusting us with their stories and for believing in our vision. 

This ad campaign is especially dedicated in loving memory to Pat Bolden, and to people who use drugs, everywhere.