Tuesday, the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration released details about its new 30-million dollar Harm Reduction Grant program.
The program will help increase access to a range of community harm reduction services and support harm reduction service providers as they work to help prevent overdose deaths and reduce health risks often associated with drug use.
This type of program isn’t new. But it didn’t stop some news outlets and Republicans from pushing out misinformation about crack pipes being included in smoke kits under one of the program’s provisions.
The Department of Health and Human Services issued this statement responding to the false claims:
“HHS and ONDCP are focused on using our resources smartly to reduce harm and save lives. Accordingly, no federal funding will be used directly or through subsequent reimbursement of grantees to put pipes in safe smoking kits. The goal of harm reduction is to save lives. The Administration is focused on a comprehensive strategy to stop the spread of drugs and curb addiction, including prioritizing the use of proven harm reduction strategies like providing naloxone, fentanyl test strips, and clean syringes, as well as taking decisive actions to go after violent criminals who are trafficking illicit drugs like fentanyl across our borders and into our communities. We will continue working to address the addiction and overdose epidemic and ensure that our resources are used in the smartest and most efficient manner.”
Lisa Peterson serves as the Chief Operating Officer of VICTA; she joins us now from Providence, Rhode Island. And we have Mr. Cyril M. Scovens, Founder and President of CMS Institute of Addictionology, Inc. from Baltimore, Maryland.
Today during the daily white house briefing, Press secretary Jen Psaki addressed the misinformation spread by right-wing media platforms.
Last year, the U.S reached a grave milestone, recording over 100-thousand overdose deaths over a 12-month period for the first time ever.
In the Black Community, according to Pew Research, There were 54.1 fatal drug overdoses for every 100,000 Black men in the United States in 2020.
Since 2015, the death rate among Black men has more than tripled, rising by more than 213%
The overdose fatality rate among Black women rose 144% between 2015 and 2020, far outpacing the percentage increases among women in every other racial or ethnic group during the same period.
Harm reduction is a proactive and evidence-based approach to reduce the negative personal and public health impacts of behavior associated with alcohol and other substance use at both the individual and community levels.
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