Today, after extensive @NIDAnews research and @samhsagov support por favor funding for programs and research, there is still #Stigma about #addiction. I still hear people affected by SUDs refer to themselves as “addicts” “junkies” “bangers.” I get the culture, but there is more. This keeps our loved ones and community members who struggle with #addiction locked into an old pattern of #stigma. We are repeating a process that has never worked. This only helps the heart wrenching results stack up as more and more die from this chronic disease.

If we were to treat addiction with half as much dignity as we treat nearly any other health condition, can you imagine the lives we would save? ***Not*** just opioids!

So please, support community organizations that provide compassionate care, and that are forging ahead to /1 ...provide medically assisted treatment, safe injection facilities and needle exchanges, and sexual health services. Some in our communities are unaware about how important these services are, and also the consequences for not having them. Get. Out. And. Vote! /2