Families With Loved Ones Lost to Overdose Oppose Criminalization, Call For Health Solutions

As people who have lost loved ones to overdose, we know saving lives requires health solutions. Please join with more than 400 people who have signed our letter urging lawmakers to oppose more punishment and instead embrace lifesaving health responses to the overdose crisis. We will make this letter and its signers public and available to the media.*
 
Open Letter to Lawmakers:
 
There is a tragic overdose crisis in the United States. More than 100,000 people were lost last year alone. We know the pain firsthand. We have lost our loved ones to overdose. And through the pain of our loss and grief, we see that there is another horrific tragedy unfolding. Opportunistic politicians supported by law enforcement are using the overdose crisis and parents' grief to pass harsh drug laws that will only continue to fill our morgues and prisons. Punitive laws will not bring our loved ones back, but they will subject other parents’ children to more suffering and deny them the support that can keep them alive.
 
Treating problematic drug use as a health issue, instead of a criminal one, is the best way to keep our families safe and healthy. We call on you to oppose punitive laws that will only make the overdose crisis worse.
 
 
Instead, in honor of the memory of our loved ones, we demand health-based solutions focused on overdose prevention, harm reduction, and treatment including:
 
 
We are fighting to save lives so no one else has to go through the heartbreak and pain we’ve experienced. We can’t punish our way out of the overdose crisis. We call on lawmakers to address it by opposing harsh punishment for drugs and enacting health responses that save lives.

 

*Disclaimer: This letter is a collaboration between the Drug Policy Alliance and Broken No More. By signing this letter you agree to receive periodic email communications from both organizations. In addition to signer information being shared with both organizations, we plan to make the letter public with First Name, Last Name, State, and the In Honor of information you provide. Email addresses will remain confidential and will not be released to the public.