On International Drug Users Day, let’s continue to make a brighter future for all.

Dear , 

Simply put, thank you.    

Thank you for standing in solidarity with us and the thousands of people nationwide who work with us to end our overdose crisis. 

Thank you for advocating with us to increase access to evidence-based harm reduction strategies, policies, and programs.  

Thank you for supporting the health and dignity of people living at the intersection of drug use, sex work, and harm reduction. Your support is vital to continuing our work to reduce the harms experienced by people who use drugs. Please offer a donation here (https://give.harmreduction.org/eoy/).  

On this International Drug Users Day, I reflect on all the amazing work we have done to help uplift, amplify, and affirm the rights of people who use drugs and the more that still needs to happen. In my short time as Executive Director for NHRC, it’s not lost on me, or my colleagues who arduously strive to bring harm reduction strategies to scale, that the road ahead may be beginning to look brighter. 

Yet challenges persist. The push for evidence-based harm reduction to be an accessible, public health accepted best practice is still plagued with policies and rulings that prevent wide-spread access to sterile syringes. We still experience the deep ramifications of criminalization and stigma of drug use that permeates our communities especially for people identifying as Black, Brown, disabled, and LGBTQIA+. Moreover, accidental drug overdoses are still increasing at alarming rates, especially in communities that are the heartbeat of the US.  

We must use today, and every day after, to continue to educate and train folks on harm reduction strategies and overdose prevention tactics. We must continue to advocate for better policies and take firm stances against anti-science, homophobic, racist, and classist agendas that undermine the basic right of every human being to live their life free from the fear of being marginalized. 

The harm reduction movement is more active than ever, and we thank you for supporting NHRC in the fight to build a society where people who use drugs are understood, accepted, and given the basic freedoms enjoyed by most. Let’s continue to build and grow the harm reduction movement together. Give Today! (https://give.harmreduction.org/eoy/). 

In solidarity,  

Dr. Orisha Bowers  
Executive Director 
National Harm Reduction Coalition