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Awareness Days often seem cheesy or trite.
But Intl. OD Awareness Day is one that seems to draw the most heartfelt, sincere, angry, necessary, passionate, and organic community mobilizations.
Gatherings, op eds, speeches, social media posts, and etc. It’s all so raw.
But Intl. OD Awareness Day is one that seems to draw the most heartfelt, sincere, angry, necessary, passionate, and organic community mobilizations.
Gatherings, op eds, speeches, social media posts, and etc. It’s all so raw.
Yet I dread it just a bit.
I watch it approaching like the anniversary of a death. There’s some discomfort and anticipation around what it symbolizes.
But mostly, I dread the part in which many are not truly, truly seen or fully heard on this day.
I watch it approaching like the anniversary of a death. There’s some discomfort and anticipation around what it symbolizes.
But mostly, I dread the part in which many are not truly, truly seen or fully heard on this day.
3/ The #IOAD events I have planned or attended in recent years are primarily advocacy events or parties /fundraisers in which there’s something trying to be proved.
Some work to make the case that ODs could be prevented and people could recover - then they might be worthwhile!
Some work to make the case that ODs could be prevented and people could recover - then they might be worthwhile!
4/ Others come from a place that sees overdose as edgy, cool, good content for the gram.
Others come because their pain manifests as a desire to see “drug dealers” imprisoned and to speak on it at any opportunity.
Others come because their pain manifests as a desire to see “drug dealers” imprisoned and to speak on it at any opportunity.
5/ Others are there to try to make a case for their current existence, following a drug-use career that included overdoses.
Some are there because their politics tell them that big pharma and profit driven docs created the current OD crisis, and they must act.
Some are there because their politics tell them that big pharma and profit driven docs created the current OD crisis, and they must act.
Many come because they’ve lost someone, and it has shifted their entire world into a new and unfamiliar shape.
They need others in order to make meaning of the shapes, and try to understand what to do with them.
A child, sibling, parent, partner, or friend, a big love.
/6
They need others in order to make meaning of the shapes, and try to understand what to do with them.
A child, sibling, parent, partner, or friend, a big love.
/6
There are the politicians and the journalists. Kind, good people who see that there are people in their community who are hurting. Who see it as their duty to be responsive.
Then some just need a story for the day. People gathering in public? A+ content for TV news at 9.
/7
Then some just need a story for the day. People gathering in public? A+ content for TV news at 9.
/7
Last, those who don’t necessarily receive notice at your avg IOAD event:
- The person getting high / well everyday and fears their PO or cops, constantly.
- The front line outreach worker with 50+ narcan reversals to their name and a big bag of trauma they carry around.
/8
- The person getting high / well everyday and fears their PO or cops, constantly.
- The front line outreach worker with 50+ narcan reversals to their name and a big bag of trauma they carry around.
/8
- The casual heroin user who had 2 ODs this year but can’t speak their truth because to do so risks losing their job/ career.
- The activists, drug users, public health workers, academics, health care providers, who are so, so tired of arguing the value of a human’s life...
/9
- The activists, drug users, public health workers, academics, health care providers, who are so, so tired of arguing the value of a human’s life...
/9
-The 1000s of people whose drug use exists along a continuum /is ever changing, but who are the natural care takers of their community. Those who stockpile & distribute 1000s of doses of narcan, who are there for any OD response, anytime, and who won’t ever get a cent.
/10
/10
These folks are looking for an #IOAD where they might exist in a space that allows for a momentary pause from playing language gymnastics, the game played to convince any of the aforementioned groups / the wider world, that each life has inherent worth and deserves dignity.
/11
/11
An IOAD where “Support Not Stigma” has a shared meaning for all:
1. Doesn’t include interaction w/ the criminal (in)justice system for people who use drugs.
2. Knows that offering compassion, love, & acceptance for a person who overdosed/will OD takes time & practice.
/12
1. Doesn’t include interaction w/ the criminal (in)justice system for people who use drugs.
2. Knows that offering compassion, love, & acceptance for a person who overdosed/will OD takes time & practice.
/12
And last, those diverging from IOAD’s core audience are seeking spaces that center 100yo US drug control policy (that drives the OD crisis) &
the laws’ genesis via storytelling/propaganda that falsely created a link btwn drug use & violence & communities of color
/13
the laws’ genesis via storytelling/propaganda that falsely created a link btwn drug use & violence & communities of color
/13
Which is to say that #IOAD events can reproduce systemic racism if they neglect to:
identify the OD crises’ roots in a legacy of slavery (& xenophobia), along with the resultant Nixon - Reagan era policies that engendered an OD crisis decades before it had such a name.
/14
identify the OD crises’ roots in a legacy of slavery (& xenophobia), along with the resultant Nixon - Reagan era policies that engendered an OD crisis decades before it had such a name.
/14
So when I say that I dread IOAD just a bit, I mean this:
Many of the Day’s events are not organized in a way that makes space for the pain and/or historical trauma carried by so many of the people for whom #IOAD holds meaning.
/15
Many of the Day’s events are not organized in a way that makes space for the pain and/or historical trauma carried by so many of the people for whom #IOAD holds meaning.
/15
Despite the pandemic, I hope 8/31 makes a space so all can feel:
peace
connection
meaning
stillness
a sense of belonging
& a loving acceptance for each human who knows the post-narcan rush of cold, or who knows well the emptiness/loneliness in the aftermath of OD death.
/16
peace
connection
meaning
stillness
a sense of belonging
& a loving acceptance for each human who knows the post-narcan rush of cold, or who knows well the emptiness/loneliness in the aftermath of OD death.
/16
Achieving this takes effort, intention and care.
Plus a long-standing commitment to building relationships with everybody / anybody who is connected into the larger web of overdose and it’s many determinants.
But perhaps the litmus test goes something like this:
/17
Plus a long-standing commitment to building relationships with everybody / anybody who is connected into the larger web of overdose and it’s many determinants.
But perhaps the litmus test goes something like this:
/17
Tips for an #IOAD event that feels good for ppl to whom OD means most:
1. Is the event a collaboration btwn groups?
2. Does it center* the experiences of Black communities w/ drug policy, Heroin, & OD?
3. Is there a set agenda? If so, is there time for anyone to speak?
/18
1. Is the event a collaboration btwn groups?
2. Does it center* the experiences of Black communities w/ drug policy, Heroin, & OD?
3. Is there a set agenda? If so, is there time for anyone to speak?
/18
IOAD tips cont:
4. Do any speakers serve a purpose BESIDES cultivating the feelings in /16? (Peace, connection, etc)
- If yes, is it worth it?
5. Does every speaker value harm reduction approaches to overdose & demonstrate a real + applied lack of judgement & acceptance?
/19
4. Do any speakers serve a purpose BESIDES cultivating the feelings in /16? (Peace, connection, etc)
- If yes, is it worth it?
5. Does every speaker value harm reduction approaches to overdose & demonstrate a real + applied lack of judgement & acceptance?
/19
6. Can attendees cry, be silent, talk with friends or strangers, be alone, do a thing, do nothing, listen, talk, yell, laugh?
7. Could a person who currently uses opioids speak about an OD, their use, or handing out narcan, w/out risking arrest or being told to get help?
/20
7. Could a person who currently uses opioids speak about an OD, their use, or handing out narcan, w/out risking arrest or being told to get help?
/20
8. Are key speakers/attendees ppl who‘re actively using opioids, ppl on MAT, & their friends +family? For those who’ve left us, will their friends & lovers come, or just the family/mom?
9. Is a person, who shared drugs w/ a friend that lead to death, warmly welcome?
/21
9. Is a person, who shared drugs w/ a friend that lead to death, warmly welcome?
/21
And that’s what I’ve got!
Please be mindful: this thread is a collection of opinions, based on experience, w/ which you may disagree. I speak for myself only, no one else.
*Centering: Who leads planning process? Who speaks in key slots or most? Whose ideas highlighted?
/22
Please be mindful: this thread is a collection of opinions, based on experience, w/ which you may disagree. I speak for myself only, no one else.
*Centering: Who leads planning process? Who speaks in key slots or most? Whose ideas highlighted?
/22
Note:
The above“tips” are questions, NOT instructions, meant to facilitate reflection on inclusivity as process. They come from past teams’ decisions/ IOAD plans that werent quite right: Events that didn’t feel as intended; speaker vetting faux pax; less than clear goals; etc..
The above“tips” are questions, NOT instructions, meant to facilitate reflection on inclusivity as process. They come from past teams’ decisions/ IOAD plans that werent quite right: Events that didn’t feel as intended; speaker vetting faux pax; less than clear goals; etc..
