Show Your Solidarity with the National Movement for Overdose Prevention Centers
Since 2000, 1.1 million people in the U.S. have died of a preventable overdose. Overdose death rates are so high that they have caused a decrease in overall life expectancy in the U.S.
All the while, we have a proven, life-saving public health solution right in front of us: overdose prevention centers (OPCs). OPCs are health care settings where people can bring and consume their own drugs, with trained staff available to intervene if an overdose occurs. No one has to die of an overdose.
The organizers behind 2024 Overdose Prevention Centers National Solidarity Week* have issued the following demands:
1. State and city leaders must respond to the overdose crisis with the outrage, urgency, and action demanded by a public health emergency.
2. State and city leaders must use their authority to clear a legal pathway to authorize and expand overdose prevention centers, especially in areas with the highest rate of overdose.
3. State leaders must use opioid settlement funds to sustain and expand essential harm reduction services, including overdose prevention centers.
4. Policymakers must work to end, and never increase, the criminalization and punishment of people who use drugs.
Sign on to stand with our demands for increased access to overdose prevention centers across the nation. We will make this letter and its signers public and available to the media.