BIG NEWS (🧵): $30 million in emergency funding for harm reduction programs is tucked into the coronavirus relief package that Congress passed today and is now headed to President Biden’s desk. This is HISTORIC, unprecedented funding. Never before has Congress approved .../1
...dedicated federal funding for syringe services programs and harm reduction. For decades, these providers have been on the frontlines meeting people who use drugs where they are, building trust, providing services that have kept people alive, improved health and .../2
...well-being, making “any positive change” happen, as Dan Bigg would say. Harm reduction providers have saved countless lives from overdose, prevented countless HIV and hep C infections, innovating service delivery to adapt to a changing drug supply that has become more ... /3
... synthetic, more unpredictable. Providers truly on the frontlines, saving lives, facilitating positive change and enrollment in effective medication treatment. For decades, harm reduction providers have tirelessly done this work without recognition from policymakers and .../4
...without adequate funding. While there’s been substantial progress made in recent years in terms of building political support for harm reduction, funding still lags far behind support for other drug-related interventions like treatment & prevention. At the federal level .../5
...lawmakers have appropriated huge sums of federal money for many programs that fall into the prevention and treatment buckets with (at best) questionable efficacy. Let’s not forget the billions that goes to enforcement-first approaches to drugs. The $30 million included ../6
...in the American Rescue Plan Act (the coronavirus relief package that Congress just passed) sets a precedent. For the first time, federal lawmakers have truly recognized the enormous contributions that syringe services programs and other harm reduction providers make on a .../7
... daily basis to protect the health and wellbeing of people who use drugs and their loved ones as well as the pivotal roles that harm reduction providers play in protecting and advancing public health objectives. @DrugPolicyOrg worked for nearly a year with a broad set of .../8
...stakeholders in the harm reduction, public health, HIV and hepatitis prevention communities to build political support for this emergency funding for syringe services programs and other harm reduction providers in this latest coronavirus relief package. This $30 million .../9
...is just a down payment, a long overdue down payment for harm reduction providers who deserve funding that is equal to what the federal government shells out for prevention and treatment, including many programs with (at best) shaky metrics of success. @DrugPolicyOrg is .../10
...working with stakeholders to push for more funding in the next spending measure that will advance through Congress later this year. We will reach a day when members of Congress routinely include harm reduction in their list of priorities & it’s considered on par with tx.../11
...and prevention as essential core components to substance use and overdose. The worsening overdose crisis during the pandemic was largely unnoticed by most lawmakers on Capitol Hill until relatively recently. But not so for @RepAnnieKuster and @SenTinaSmith who worked .../12
...last summer to craft the legislation with @DrugPolicyOrg that would serve as the blueprint for the $30 million in emergency funding for harm reduction in this relief package. A huge thank you to @RepAnnieKuster, @SenTinaSmith and her staff, along with @RepJohnKatko and .../13
...@lisamurkowski for your leadership on the authorizing legislation and advocacy to include this emergency funding in this relief package. Special thanks to many organizations who worked to push for this funding including @HarmReduction, @AIDS_United, @popdemoc, @PplsAction...14
...@VOCALNewYork, @lac_news, @NatlHCHCouncil, @nvhr1, @NASTAD, @OpenSociety, @ssdpofficial, @nasw and many other stakeholders too numerous to name. Many individual advocates have worked tirelessly over the years to educate federal lawmakers about harm reduction & to humanize../15
...people who use drugs including @DanielBRaymond, @jazzyjtyler, @billjpiper, @BillMcCollDC1, @jennycollierjd, @AlexanderWalley, @DanCiccarone, @drjodyrich, @TracieMGardner, @BarbaraDiPietro, @gabdlg, @coreysdavis. Hats off to all who have labored for years to reach this .../16
...moment and I’m sure I’m failing to name advocates who should be. $30 million is just the beginning. There will be a critical need to support proper implementation at SAMHSA, the federal agency that will be administering these funds. @DrugPolicyOrg will be working with .../17
...stakeholders to ensure that SAMHSA honors the wishes of Congress to support harm reduction providers with this funding. We are treating this as a major turning point in a long term fight to secure dedicated federal funding for harm reduction. We have a long way to go to .../18
...to get there. The text of this funding language can be seen on pp. 104-105 here: rules.house.gov/sites/democrat…. This funding represents a good start, an important & historic precedent that we must build upon, & we will continue to fight for the dignity of people who use drugs. /end
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