Using Opioid Settlement Funds to Broaden & Strengthen Harm Reduction

The opioid settlement dollars offer a +$55 billion opportunity to enhance our response to the ongoing opioid overdose crisis. But as decision-makers work to allocate these funds toward evidence-based, opioid-related solutions across prevention, harm reduction, treatment, and recovery, the federal government entered the chat to openly attack harm reduction.

This isn't just more misguided policy. It's a coordinated attack on people who use drugs and the strategies that save their lives, all while the opioid crisis continues killing tens of thousands of people every year. Because of how harm reduction works, it has always been an easy target for these attacks. But we must look through the bluster and take full advantage of the opportunity presented by opioid settlement funds to invest in evidence-based harm reduction practices.

So what exactly is harm reduction?

At its core, harm reduction is about practical, compassionate solutions to reduce the harms associated with everyday life. This could look like seat belts for driving, sunscreen for sun exposure, or, in the context of substance use, something like drinking water between alcoholic beverages. These harm reduction strategies are grounded in principles like bodily autonomy and human dignity.

When applied to substances, harm reduction strategies acknowledge that people use substances…because people do use substances…therefore, we must create safer and healthier communities for people who use substances. For the opioid crisis, harm reduction includes evidence-based tools like drug checking, syringe services, wound care kits, and low-cost/low-dose naloxone (the opioid overdose-reversal medication that has already saved countless lives).

Harm reduction solutions are common-sense and mutual aid-grounded approaches that meet the needs of the community. Yet despite their effectiveness, these solutions often operate outside traditional health systems. They are also frequently sidelined by legal barriers that ignore their life-saving potential. And then there's the funding issue…