When someone deeply cares about a cause, society calls them passionate. Well, I am not passionate; I am angry. I am angry that every five minutes someone dies of a preventable drug overdose. I am angry that despite the many ways America has adapted over the decades, there is still a war on drugs, and my community members are casualties. Mostly, I am terrified.

I am terrified that I will one day lose a loved one to an illicit fentanyl overdose. Problematic drug use has been met with the same archaic approach for decades: We jail the user, shame the user and turn our backs on the user. The problem is this approach has failed.

According to the Centers for Disease Control, since 1999 almost one million people have died from an overdose, and 500,000 of those were related to opioids. Drug use is not going away, and drugs become more dangerous every day with additives like Xylazine. What can be done? Harm reduction is an evidence-based approach to drug use that prioritizes mitigating risks associated with drug use for the user and the community. You can do your part and take a stand.

Find out how your community is responding to drug use and ask them to adopt a harm reduction framework policy, help break negative stigmas associated with drug users, and, most importantly, carry Narcan and learn to recognize the signs of an overdose. Overdose Awareness Day is Aug. 31. Please take the time to remember those who were lost and the grieving families they left behind. I will leave you with a quote by an unknown author to ponder: “One community, one cause: End overdose.”

Saxon Wagner
Hayden