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Search Results for: harm reduction

Tribal Nations Turn To Harm Reduction In Battle Against Opioids

May 21, 2023 Elyse Wild, Native News Online. , , , ,
A group of children from the Pala Band of Mission Indians was walking home from school in 2016 when they found a plastic bag holding 100 bright blue pills. The kids tossed the bag back and forth as they walked to the tribe’s youth center, where they turned it into the staff. The staff at the youth center quickly called law enforcement, who informed them the pills were fentanyl, a highly potent synthetic opioid 50 times stronger than heroin and 100 times stronger than morphine. That same year, 16 youths from the Pala Band of Mission Indians died of opioid overdoses. For the California tribe — which has a population of around 1,000— the losses were a devastating sign that the opioid epidemic had gained footing in their community.

Black August, Letter Writing And The ‘Harm Reduction’ Administration

August 18, 2021 Erica Caines, Hood Communist. , , ,
There are four major components in the yearly commemorations of Black August: study, fast, train, and fight. People are encouraged to study the works and words of former and current political and politicized prisoners. People are encouraged to fast from sunrise to sunset. People are encouraged to train and become more physically active. People are encouraged to fight against the system. However, one of the lesser centered but equally important aspects of Black August is letter writing.  Nearly a half-century ago, Gresham Sykes wrote in The Society of Captives: A Study of a Maximum Security Prison that, “life in the maximum-security prison is depriving or frustrating extreme”. Hardly anything has changed to alter that. The prison system thrives on the exploitation and over-policing of poor colonized communities.

Dan Bigg, Revolutionary Of Harm Reduction Movement, Dies

September 14, 2018 Kevin Zeese, Popular Resistance , ,
A colleague of mine, Dan Bigg of the Chicago Recovery Alliance, died on August 21 at his home. Bigg was at the forefront of bringing harm reduction into practice in the United States. The Fix called Dan "The Patron Saint of Harm Reduction" in a notable 2014 interview, and the Chicago Tribune described his work as "revolutionary."  As a result of Bigg's efforts, friends and colleagues said, thousands of people who would have died from infections or overdoses are still alive - a flesh and blood legacy of the "harm reduction" philosophy Bigg helped to popularize.

Harm Reduction Drug Policies Gaining Momentum

February 28, 2016 Sharda Sekaran, www.drugpolicy.org , , ,
By Sharda Sekaran for Drug Policy Alliance. United States - It’s been a groundbreaking month in the national dialogue about opiate dependency and addiction. From halls of government to family living rooms, the country is positioning for a dramatic shift in attitudes about drug policy that might finally mean an end to the drug war in favor of a public health and human rights approach. In early February, a series of bills were introduced in the Maryland state legislature that would decriminalize small amounts of drugs for personal use, expand access to treatment in emergency rooms and hospitals, and allow for consumption rooms where people would be able to use safely under medical supervision.

New Drug War Documentary – Ecstasy, Harm Reduction

February 19, 2015 Staff, www.popularresistance.org ,
When we think of the so-called "war on drugs," we tend to think of cartels, violence and the the prison industrial complex. But there is another, equally disturbing consequence of the drug war. The prohibition of recreational drugs (and hence their deregulation) spawns illicit markets where impurities and adulterants harm the health of people who use them. Levamisole, for example, a toxic de-worming agent, has emerged as a major contaminant in cocaine, and can slowly destroy a user's immune system. Similarly, heroin is often cut with other depressant drugs, such as fentanyl, which can act synergistically with heroin and lead to overdose.
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