In the wake of President Trump’s just-released plan for escalating deadly drug war policies, WWAV is redoubling our efforts.
For thirty years, we have taken a Black feminist approach to harm reduction in the south. We know that the people we stand with hold their truths in their stories; they also hold the solutions.
We stand with people who use drugs.
And we stand with all who love them.
Harm reduction saves lives.
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Please take time to read this statement from our colleagues at the Drug Policy Alliance.
Dear Partners,
Yesterday, President Trump announced his long-awaited plan to address opioid addiction and the overdose crisis. It’s even worse than we warned you it would be.
He repeated calls for ever-harsher drug penalties and resurrecting disproven “just say no”-style campaigns aimed at youth – harmful policies with disastrous track records. And he took his escalation of the drug war to a whole new level by calling for the death penalty for people who sell drugs.
We must stop this unconscionable agenda. Help us fight back: Urge Congress to stand against punitive drug policies and to embrace harm reduction solutions that are proven to save lives.
Trump’s proposal to execute people who sell drugs is alarming, appalling and wrong. The war on drugs has always been a tool for racism and oppression and it’s horrifying to see it now being used to justify state-sanctioned murder in the US.
Doubling down on the drug war will only put more lives at risk and make the overdose crisis even worse.
Overdose deaths are preventable through public health investments, but we know that more law enforcement and harsh penalties don’t work. The war on drugs actually set the stage for the overdose crisis, by driving drug use underground, depriving people of basic information about how to reduce the harms of drug use, and wasting tax dollars that could go toward overdose prevention and effective treatment.
While Trump’s plan includes some modest references to expanding access to the overdose reversal medication naloxone and medication-assisted treatment, the bulk of the plan would undermine any health-based efforts.
The only way to save lives is to stop using the criminal justice system to deal with drug use and replace it with proven health-centered policies.
Tell your members of Congress it’s long past time for evidence-based treatment and harm reduction interventions that would stem the tide of overdose deaths.
The Drug Policy Alliance and supporters like you have been advocating for life-saving, health-based solutions for decades. We must expand harm reduction services and effective treatment, and implement proven measures like safe consumption services, drug checking, syringe access programs, 911 Good Samaritan laws and evidence-based drug education.
People are losing precious family and friends every hour to overdoses that are preventable. As Trump and Sessions accelerate the disastrous drug war, we must demand that Congress prioritizes saving lives instead of following their lead.
Demand that Congress oppose deadly drug war policies that will make the overdose crisis worse and instead adopt the solutions that will save lives.
Sincerely,
Maria McFarland Sánchez-Moreno
Executive Director
Drug Policy Alliance