The convo on public suffering, homelessness, and the overdose crisis is personal to all of us. That’s why we need outlets like @nytimes & @WSJ to do better.

Let’s discuss some of their latest reporting and the harmful inaccuracies. A 🧵 Media and politician talking points are dominated by the false promise that the solution to public suffering is simple - that criminalization will be some silver bullet to the suffering we see in our communities. But criminalization didn’t work before. And it will not work now.

The drug war has deep roots and is a tool to control and harm communities. For #PresidentsDay, lets take a look at the impact our current and past presidents have had on the drug war. #EndTheDrugWar #NoMoreDrugWar Nixon Declares the Drug War in 1971.

* Signs the Controlled Substances Act (CSA) into law in 1970.
* He increased the size, presence, and funding of federal drug control agencies.
* In 1973 he created the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA).

What exactly does an Overdose Prevention Center (OPC) do? To answer that question, we visited @_OnPointNYC, which runs the first recognized OPCs in the U.S.
A 🧵 We toured the room, a clean and welcoming space where people can use while being monitored for signs of overdose, get their drugs tested, and access whatever sterile equipment they need.

Today marks 51 years since Nixon declared the war on drugs, the longest war in the nation’s history that is fueling the current overdose crisis & has made drug possession the most arrested offense in the country with one arrest every 31 seconds. Time for a new approach—a thread. As we talk to people across the country, most agree that problematic drug use needs health-based approaches. We all want to help; not hurt our loved ones and we want to keep them safe from the climbing overdose crisis that is stealing lives at staggering rates.

Despite the rush to classify all fentanyl-related substances as Sch. I for harsher penalties, @US_FDA scientists say they have only studied 25 of 4800 substances. Of those, some weren't even harmful, and others had potential to reverse overdoses. c-span.org/video/?c499437… The FDA testified that one of the substances it studied “looks like an antagonist…in the way naloxone is a blocker of the mu-opioid receptor.” And that bc of this, “They could be antagonists, could be new treatments for opioid disorder, new treatments for reversing overdoses.”

Let's talk treatment for chaotic drug use or substance use disorders. A thread.

First, coercing people into treatment undermines their dignity and autonomy--the evidence suggest that coerced treatment is ineffective. Treatment must be evidence-based, voluntary, and accessible. Too many people who want treatment face challenges that stop them from accessing the services they want (available slot, geography, cost, abstinence-only, culturally appropriate, inpatient vs outpatient). The more barriers people face, the less likely they are to access services.

Criminalization is driving the overdose crisis:

Criminalization creates stigma and fear of punishment which prevents people from seeking support and pushes people to use alone so they have no help in an overdose emergency.

https://twitter.com/DrugPolicyOrg/status/1432845332665229315

Criminalization makes the drug supply less safe, resulting in an unregulated drug market with unknown, adulterated substances that put people at greater risk of overdose.

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 The criminalization of drugs is driving the overdose crisis, making it almost impossible to save lives even though overdose is preventable. 2/9

On March 13th, 2020, Breonna Taylor was killed in her home by police officers during a no-knock raid.

The drug war is the primary reason for Breonna’s tragic death.

Read the timeline and how the drug war caused it 👇(THREAD) 1/
drugpolicy.medium.com/e931d33c6728 In early 2020, Breonna Taylor’s ex-boyfriend, Jamarcus Glover was under investigation for drug trafficking & Louisville police officers had been building a case for months.

This was due to The Controlled Substances Act, enacted in 1970, launching the drug war in the U.S. 2/

The drug war has infested six critical systems: child welfare, employment, public benefits, immigration, housing, and education. The harmful impacts are very real. THREAD 🧵

#UprootTheDrugWar / uprootingthedrugwar.org The drug war breaks up families and removes children from their homes. Mandatory reporting is NOT a reflection of whether someone is a good parent. It increases distrust between patients and their doctors and leads to family separation. #UprootTheDrugWar

We're starting soon, please join us! bit.ly/DPACOVIDSeries3 Follow along this thread for live tweets. #DPACOVIDSeries

https://twitter.com/DrugPolicyOrg/status/1271098791152816128

Kima Taylor of @urbaninstitute shares her issue with how treatment is framed as solving a problem & how that ignores the history of racism and other forms of oppression. #DPACOVIDSeries

We share the @Surgeon_General's concerns about keeping adolescents & pregnant people safe & healthy. However, we are concerned that his presentation didn’t clearly depict the latest trends because rates of marijuana use among these groups have remained stable or decreased. THREAD The 2018 Monitoring the Future survey suggests that #marijuana use among 8th, 10th, & 12th graders remains low & stable “despite the changing state marijuana laws during this time period."