Want to prevent overdose? #DecriminalizeDrugs and invest in health services. Let’s chat this Overdose Awareness Day. -> A thread.🧵
In 2020, overdose deaths increased by 30%, killing more than 93,000 Americans—the highest ever on record. 1/9
In 2020, overdose deaths increased by 30%, killing more than 93,000 Americans—the highest ever on record. 1/9
The criminalization of drugs is driving the overdose crisis, making it almost impossible to save lives even though overdose is preventable. 2/9
Drug offenses are the leading cause of arrests in the U.S. For more than 50 years, we’ve used criminalization to deter drug use, yet overdose is skyrocketing. 3/9
Having a criminal record is a huge obstacle to achieving recovery- it can impact your ability to pass a background check for a job or new home, it can lead to deportation and family separation, and so much more. 4/9
Criminalization wastes resources on arrest, incarceration, and punishment instead of harm reduction and other health-services that are proven to save lives. 5/9
Drug criminalization pushes people into risky situations. The fear of punishment prevents people from seeking support and pushes people to use alone so they have no help in an overdose emergency. 6/9
Criminalization makes the drug supply unregulated and unsafe. Unregulated markets result in drug users being unaware of the contents and purity of the drugs they use. 7/9
Few people in jails/prisons get access to needed medications like methadone or buprenorphine, which puts them at high risk of overdose after release. From 2001-18, the number of people who have died of drug or alcohol intoxication in state prisons increased by more than 600% 8/9
Overdose is preventable. We can save lives by decriminalizing drugs, treating drug use as the health issue it is, and giving people who use drugs the support and dignity they deserve. drugpolicy.org/overdose 9/9
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