#syringeaccess

We’re currently recruiting for FOUR positions at Harm Reduction Coalition!

Are you passionate about harm reduction? Committed to racial justice? Want to end the overdose crisis? Eliminate hepatitis C? Expand syringe access across the U.S.?   

More details, including how to apply, here: https://harmreduction.org/about-us/jobs/jobs-with-hrc/

VICTORY! California Governor Newsom just signed the state budget, officially allocating $15.2 million to fund staff positions in syringe service programs across the state!

Over the last two years Harm Reduction Coalition talked with programs & PEOPLE who use drugs to understand what was needed to truly reduce the health & social harms of drug use, & we kept hearing one thing: more people to do the work! People across the state came together to advocate for this budget ask, led by Drug Policy Alliance & Harm Reduction Coalition. It was a collaborative effort from the beginning to today’s victory! 

The latest Narcotica podcast sits down down with Harm Reduction Coalition’s, Eliza Wheeler. Eliza has been working in harm reduction, distributing syringes & naloxone directly to people who use drugs for over two decades, & reflects on how easily the bedrock values and principles of the movement can be compromised and co-opted by political forces when it goes mainstream. Eliza talks about how funds for naloxone end up in the wrong hands, how syringe access deals with NIMBYism, & how the heart of her harm reduction philosophy is bodily autonomy.

Listen here.

CALL TO ACTION! California legislators will soon be doing the final vote on a budget proposal that would fund a paid staff position in all authorized syringe access programs!

We need your help pushing it through, please call the Senators and Assemblymember’s on the Budget Conference Committee:

- Assemblymember Phil Ting (SF) (415) 557-2312
- Senator Richard Roth (Riverside) (951) 680-6750
- Senator Nancy Skinner (Alameda) (510) 286-1333
- Senator Holly Mitchell (LA) (213) 745-6656

Here’s a sample of what you could say:

“Hi, my name is ______ and I live/work in _____. I’m calling to ask ___[name of legislator]___ to support the budget request led by Harm Reduction Coalition and Drug Policy Alliance to fund Harm Reduction Care Navigators.

This is important because syringe service programs are on the front lines providing care to people who need it most and many of these programs have little money or are all volunteer. These funds would make it possible to help connect people to treatment and reduce overdose deaths in California. Please support this budget request!”

Save the Date: 13th National Harm Reduction Conference, San Juan, Puerto Rico, October 17-20, 2020