Broken No More

If you have lost a family member to overdose, your voice carries the power to change hearts and minds.

Join us Nov. 6 at 7 p.m. ET to learn how to tell your story to advocate for health-based drug policies and record impactful videos from your phone.

Register here: us02web.zoom.us/meeting/regi...

People who have lost loved ones to overdose know better than anyone the pain and destruction caused by putting criminalization over health-based support.

Join people like Jessie in telling lawmakers to pass health-based policies that will protect communities: engage.drugpolicy.org/secure/famil...

Families With Loved Ones Lost to Overdose Call on Trump and Congress to Prioritize Health over Punishment Join our letter urging Trump and lawmakers to oppose more punishment and instead embrace lifesaving health responses to the overdose crisis.

📝Sign our letter urging elected officials to prioritize health-based solutions that can prevent overdose deaths
engage.drugpolicy.org/secure/famil...

Guide: What is Harm Reduction? Harm reduction is a public health approach focused on minimizing the negative consequences associated with drug use. It prioritizes health, dignity, and human rights, seeking to reduce risks rather th...

📚Check out our Harm Reduction Guide to stay informed and help spread accurate information about harm reduction:

broken-no-more.org/guide-what-i...

💙 Harm reduction is about respect, dignity, and health.
It is proven to prevent overdose deaths.
It is essential.

Here are two ways you can help promote and protect harm reduction services that save lives ⬇️

Can Drug Users Be Forced Into Rehab? Trump Says Yes. So Do 34 States.

Involuntary commitment is not only inhumane, but it can put people who use drugs in even more danger.

People in involuntary commitment face higher risks of overdose than those in voluntary treatment. This isn't about helping people, it's about warehousing them.

www.nytimes.com/2025/09/17/h...

Responding to the overdose crisis with harsher drug laws will only lead to more suffering and death, especially in Black and low-income communities.

Join families like Kimberly's in telling lawmakers to prioritize health over punishment: engage.drugpolicy.org/secure/famil...

#nomoredrugwar

W.Va. counties rejecting harm reduction in opioid funds spending despite research On a warm summer day in late May, about 100 people are waiting for their turn to go inside the Neighborhood S.H.O.P., located in the annex of Bream Memorial Pre

Harm reduction saves lives by reducing overdose rates and disease transmission. The data exists, the stories are real.

Misinformation and stigma against people who use drugs put whole communities at risk.

wchstv.com/newsletter-d...

📢 We need drug policies based in public health, science, and and human dignity, not punishment and stigma.
Decades of criminalization and the war on drugs have failed our loved ones.

The Overdose Decline and why prevention works Yale School of Public Health

Overdose deaths are declining. CDC provisional data shows a 24% drop in overdose deaths (Sept 2023–Sept 2024).* That’s 27,000+ lives saved in a single year. Within this report, 45 states saw decreases in overdose deaths. Five states (Alaska, Montana, Nevada, South Dakota, Utah) still saw increases. *Note: CDC’s numbers are early estimates based on the most recent available information. They may be updated as more death certificates and records are processed. Yale School of Public Health Source: CDC

Progress is possible when we use tools that work: Naloxone (Narcan®): Reverses opioid overdoses Harm Reduction: Syringe services, fentanyl testing strips, and harm reduction centers help prevent overdoses and other health issues Addressing Stigma: Stigma is a significant barrier to treatment Medication-Assisted Treatment: Methadone and buprenorphine reduce risk of relapse & overdose Yale School of Public Health Sources: Yale Program in Addiction Medicine, Harm Reduction Journal

"Our son Alec passed away alone on his 26th birthday from the disease of addiction - ashamed, afraid, and without access to an overdose prevention center that could have saved his life. He had carefully placed Narcan by his side, but no one there to use it. Harm reduction saves lives. We must invest in these proven measures to give people like Alec another chance to live and recover." - Dita Bhargava, MPH ‘26 Executive MPH student

Overdoses are preventable when we use — and fund — the tools that work.

#IOAD2025 #OverdoseAware #EndOverdose #OverdoseAwarenessDay

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Just a Reminder That Drug Users Aren't Zombies The White House is promoting "Make America Fentanyl Free," a new ad campaign featuring little information but a lot of zombie makeup.

Dehumanizing people who use drugs and spreading misinformation about fentanyl won’t solve the overdose crisis: Accurate public education about drugs and humanizing policies will.
filtermag.org/make-america...

Drug-induced Homicide Laws will not Reduce Overdose Deaths: A Reminder on International Overdose Awareness Day - Network for Public Health Law Over one million people in the U.S. have died from overdose since 1999. This year, as we remember those we’ve needlessly lost, we are also seeing calls for increased penalties for people who share dru...

While this was written for IOAD 2023, with even more states adopting DIH laws it's more relevant now than then. Unfortunately:

www.networkforphl.org/news-insight...

Mexican Cartels Lure Chemistry Students to Make Fentanyl (Gift Article) Criminals turn college campuses into recruitment hubs, recruiting chemistry students in Mexico with big paydays.

This is why supply-side tactics have never and will never work. It's just a game of whack-a-mole. Shut off one source of supply, another takes its place:

www.nytimes.com/2024/12/01/w...

‘War on drugs has failed, completely and utterly’: UN human rights chief The UN human rights chief has called on leaders and international stakeholders to radically rethink global drug policy, stating that the decades-long “War on Drugs” approach has “destroyed countless l...

This is a damning, and spot on, analysis of the so-called War on Drugs (which has never been about drugs, but always the people who use them) and what we need to do instead.

www.globalissues.org/news/2024/12...

History Remedy Alliance / For The People

A brief history of the first naloxone distribution program. How many people are alive today, how many people will be saved in the future, because there were people who did what was right instead of what was legal?
remedyallianceftp.org/pages/histor...

Capturing the Full Range of Buprenorphine Treatment Response This study describes patterns of reduction in illicit opioid use of patients both labeled as a success and nonsuccess based on an abstinent-based treatment outcome rule.

For far too long "complete abstinence" has been one of the measures of success in treatment with methadone and buprenorphine. However, there are other measures of success as this article makes clear. I would suggest that any positive change is success:
jamanetwork.com/journals/jam...

U.S. Taxpayers Spent Almost $13B To Fund Global War On Drugs In The Past Decade, Report Shows - Marijuana Moment Nearly $13 billion in U.S. taxpayer money has gone to fund worldwide counternarcotics activities since 2015, often coming at the expense of efforts to end global poverty while at the same time contrib...

So glad to see that our tax dollars are being spent wisely. And, yes, that's sarcasm:

www.marijuanamoment.net/u-s-taxpayer...

Basic needs are human rights, not conditional.

ONDCP Media Campaign: Contractor's National Evaluation Did Not Find that the Youth Anti-Drug Media Campaign Was Effective in Reducing Youth Drug Use Between 1998 and 2004, Congress appropriated over $1.2 billion to the Office of National Drug Control Policy (ONDCP) for the National Youth Anti-Drug...

If you're interested in the recent history of federal anti-drug advertising, this is a good place to start. www.gao.gov/products/gao...

Expect bad batches and more deaths in #yeg.
Drug seizures need to go hand in hand with the provision of regulated alternatives to toxic street drugs.
#DrugSky
www.edmontonpolice.ca/News/MediaRe...

YouTube video by Royal Music Linkin Park - One More Light (Lyrics / Lyric Video)

While families celebrate Thanksgiving, we should remember that there are those for who this day also brings the grief and pain of loss. Too many beautiful lights have been stolen by overdose. Far too many families have one more chair than they need.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=nKOP...

Beware of misinformation around the effectiveness of cutting off the drug supply chain. The Trump administration’s previous attempts to seize as many drugs as possible & criminalize drug activity led to rising overdose deaths, and more available and toxic drugs.

Harm Reduction Strategies for People Who Use Drugs This JAMA Insights explores harm reduction strategies for people who use drugs and the clinicians who treat them to help reduce the risk of unintentional drug overdose and infection.

Good information for all of us, not just clinicians:

"To decrease the morbidity and mortality associated with drug use, clinicians can discuss the following harm reduction strategies to optimize safety when people who use drugs are not prepared to abstain from use."
jamanetwork.com/journals/jam...