5 New Year's Resolutions from the Harm Reduction Coalition
It’s 2011, and there’s a lot of work ahead of us. Here are five resolutions for 2011:
1. Make syringe access a reality for all people who inject drugs
It’s been just over twelve months since the United States lifted the federal funding ban on syringe exchange, but syringes remain out of reach for far too many injectors. Health officials have been slow to invest additional resources in syringe access, and state budget cuts have left many programs across the country struggling to stay afloat. The change in federal funding policy hasn’t trickled down to most states with syringe exchange programs, and many other states still have restrictive laws that keep syringes out of reach. Effective HIV and hepatitis C prevention depend on increasing access to syringes: it’s time to scale up funding and coverage, and removing remaining legal and policy barriers.
2. Put overdose prevention on the national agenda
Overdose deaths doubled over the last decade in the U.S. and now kill more people than firearms. The majority of unintentional drug overdoses involve opiates (heroin, oxycodone, etc.); many of these deaths could be prevented through education, training, and broader community access to naloxone, a drug that reverses the effects of opiate overdoses. We need to start treating overdose as a public health problem and a national priority.
3. Expand access to hepatitis C treatment for people with histories of drug use
New and much more effective treatments for hepatitis C — protease inhibitors, taken with interferon and ribavirin — will soon be available. But will people with histories of drug use have access and share in the benefits? Many doctors have traditionally been reluctant to treat drug users — especially active users — for hepatitis C, due to stigma and myths. But research has clearly shown that people who use drugs can be successfully treated, have similar rates of adherence to treatment, and low rates of reinfection following treatment. It’s time for the health care system to start meeting the treatment and access needs of the largest proportion of people living with hepatitis C.
4. Maintain our momentum in the new political environment
The 2010 U.S. elections resulted in significant changes to the political landscape in Congress and in many states — new names, new players, new dynamics. We need to make sure that regardless of who’s in power, we continue to build support for harm reduction policies and establish drug user health as a cornerstone of public health, human rights, and social justice.
5. Support harm reduction advocacy across the country and around the world
The harm reduction movement is made up of hundreds of programs and thousands of people working locally and networking globally. We need a strong movement now more than ever — to build on our successes, spread harm reduction models more widely, and fight back against those who would reverse all the progress we’ve made. It’s not enough to have science or justice on our side — we need to share our tools and strategies, and we need to keep supporting each other.
2011 is a critical year, and we’re going to work hard to make it a good one for harm reduction.