Harm Reduction
2024 Shatterproof Addiction Stigma Index Key Findings
To illustrate the real-world impact of stigma, the 2024 SASI results are illustrated through the lens of Kaitlyn and her journey with substance use.
Substance use knows no bounds.
Most neighborhoods across the U.S. have experienced the potentially fatal consequences of using substances without managing the associated risk.*
More than one million Americans have died from an overdose in the past two decades, and for Kaitlyn, the devastation is all too familiar.
“The amount of people that I have had to bury, and watch overdose, and that I’ve lost from this disease has just been horrendous. I’ve lost count of the number of friends that I have lost to this.
It’s crazy because death has almost become a normal part of my life today, because I have watched them die right in front of me. And so, it’s almost normal for me to hear that somebody else has died today.”
Seeing the devastation of fentanyl.
Most of the overdoses that Kaitlyn witnessed were due to fentanyl — a synthetic opioid that is up to 100 times more potent than morphine.
While some people knowingly take fentanyl, many consume it unknowingly, as it is often mixed in with other substances.
Many of the lives lost to overdose could have been saved with better access to life-promoting policies, programs, and practices known as harm reduction.
Are you prepared to save a life? Learn the signs of an overdose and be ready to respond by administering naloxone.
Harm reduction saves lives.
Unfortunately, during Kaitlyn’s active use, harm reduction resources like naloxone, fentanyl test strips, and safe injection sites (also known as safe consumption sites) were not widely available.
The good news is that harm reduction access and support has gotten better over time.
Seven in ten adults support personally carrying naloxone (71%), also known by the brand name Narcan, and increasing access to fentanyl test strips for people who use drugs (73%).
However, overall support for safe injection sites in local communities remains low (43%), in spite of the evidence that safe injection sites reduce overdose deaths, rates of infectious disease, and substance use in public areas.
Kaitlyn cannot emphasize enough the gratitude she has for harm reduction strategies, the policies that promote the use of these strategies, and the people who showed her compassion during her active addiction.
*Spencer, M.R., Garnett, M.F., & Miniño, A.M. (2024). Drug overdose deaths in the United States, 2002–2022. NCHS Data Brief, no 491. National Center for Health Statistics. https://www.cdc.gov/nchs/data/databriefs/db491.pdf.
Narcan saved my life. Had it not been available, I would not be alive today. My heart completely stopped. Somebody sat there and took the time to keep using it on me. Otherwise, I wouldn’t be here. I’m so grateful for harm reduction.
Kaitlyn
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