August 31 is International #Overdose Awareness Day. Every year I reflect on all the people we’ve lost, but especially Arielle. Here we are at 18 - careless, happy assholes. She was brilliant, snarky, a talented musician, and she died at age 26 from a poisoned drug supply. 
In the last 2 years of her life, Arielle went to jail, went to rehab, and “got clean.”
Jail didn’t save her.
Rehab didn’t save her.
Abstinence didn’t save her.
#SCS could’ve saved her. #safesupply could’ve saved her.
#MOUD could’ve saved her.
#Naloxone could’ve saved her.
Jail didn’t save her.
Rehab didn’t save her.
Abstinence didn’t save her.
#SCS could’ve saved her. #safesupply could’ve saved her.
#MOUD could’ve saved her.
#Naloxone could’ve saved her.
There is no excuse for her death or for any of the 71,000 overdose deaths in 2019, not when evidence-based treatments for #OUD exist. Not one damn more person should die alone from a treatable condition in the year #2020.
#IOAD2020 must be about more than awareness. It must be about policy changes to incorporate #harmreduction into every level of drug policy and treatment. Anything less is a betrayal of those we’ve lost and a collective failure of those fighting to survive another day.
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