FDS Insight Newsletter Jul-Sep 2020

43 that option and might still be alive today had it been available to her. Safe consumption spaces are not just a stopgap for overdose prevention, although no one has ever fatally overdosed at any of the more than 120 SCS locations worldwide. They are places where people who use drugs can receive broader medical services, such as wound care, HIV/Hep-C testing, case management, medication-assisted treatment or linkage to treatment, and additional services that HIPS and other harm-reduction organizations already offer. They are also places where people with any type of substance use issue can use safely. While opioids were involved in 64% of D.C.’s intoxication deaths in 2018, there were at least 299 deaths overall related to intoxication that an SCS could more broadly address. Most importantly, when operated successfully, they are run by compassionate, competent service providers who are ready not just to respond to an overdose, but who are also able to look past stigma to see the full person in front of them, regardless of what stage of use they may be in. The shame my friend felt that led her to use alone is in no way a reflection of her character. She was a beautiful person and an amazingly compassionate friend whose life had immense, irreplaceable value. Using drugs, which she did to cope with significant personal trauma and chronic health conditions, does not change that. Instead, her shame is a mirror for us, as a culture, and how much we’ve utterly failed people who use drugs. Her last words to me, a person who has worked in harm-reduction for my entire adult life and who was living 10 minutes away from her at the time, were, ‘Just stop. I don’t deserve friends this good.’ The truth is that she deserved so much more from all of us. She deserved so much more from a system that will again fail 70,000 Americans this year. She didn’t just need naloxone or treatment; she needed a place to use safely, supported by non-judgmental healthcare providers until she was ready to gradually taper off of the substances she used. Highlighting naloxone access within the past couple of years has forced us to acknowledge the painful reality that we’ve lost so many D.C. residents to preventable overdoses. We need to name that for what it is: a systemic failure to protect people who use drugs, particularly those most vulnerable due to racism, poverty, disability, and related social factors. I envision a future where we can look back and say we learned from the enormous loss of life we’ve already sustained, that we finally began to treat people who use drugs with the dignity and respect all people deserve. In the midst of our overdose crisis, establishing D.C.’s first safe consumption space is an essential step to recognizing that vision. S. Sullivan, Street Sense Media (14/5/20) §§§