Read on Twitter
Today is International Overdose Awareness Day. I've reported on the opioid overdose crisis, but this summer it set my world on fire when a family member died from an overdose in June.
He struggled with use on and off for as long as I'd known him, 15 years. Almost half of my life. It's one of the reasons why I wanted to report on the overdose crisis.
When I went to grad school @COMatBU, I saw the effects of fentanyl in the city where I lived, Chelsea. When I walked to the bus stop and saw a syringe on the ground, when I saw Suboxone wrappers on the sidewalk or someone nodding off outside Dunkin Donuts.
I wanted to know more, and tbh I don't think I will ever truly understand. But the people who use drugs, the people I met over the course of a year in the Boston area, allowed me to listen.
Nikki, Pink, Nic, Matty, Jamie Lynn, Tiffany, Jeremy, Sandra, Meghan, Jessica. They let an outsider ask them invasive questions about their personal lives over coffee or sitting on the steps outside of church or outside the courthouse. https://digboston.com/special-feature-sex-drugs-and-fentanyl/
In a Dunkin Donuts in Revere one morning (lots of these talks happened in Dunkies) in 2018, Jess told me she was happy and thankful to get to go on a vacation with her kids. Last October, I learned she overdosed.
During the pandemic, 40 states say they've seen an increase in opioid overdoses. Houston is seeing a 30% increase. The supply is erratic, more so than before. https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/british-columbia/drugs-covid-supply-1.5668370
Test your drugs. Don't use alone. Carry Narcan. Be kind. Call your friends. Stay safe.
https://neverusealone.com/
https://neverusealone.com/
On Facebook, this popped up today. My brother-in-law was always reading a book, always had one in his backpack. This is very on brand. As far as what he let me borrow, I can't remember. I wish I did. Maybe I still have them somewhere. I'm bad at returning things.
Every person who uses drugs is someone’s friend, daughter, grandchild, brother-in-law. Hopefully no one who reads this will ever have to use Narcan, but this pandemic has made that wish unrealistic. https://www.houstonchronicle.com/local/gray-matters/article/Essay-He-was-a-bad-dancer-An-avid-reader-His-15519935.php
I couldn’t save my brother-in-law’s life, but maybe someone who carries Narcan in their bag, purse, backpack, can save someone else.
