Features

"More than 110,000 people in the United States died from overdose in 2022, and mortality rates are now highest in Black and Indigenous communities."

The Vital Strategies Overdose Prevention Program was proud to be featured alongside its partners in a segment that aired on Last Week Tonight.

Vital Strategies spoke with Dr. Sheila Vakharia about her new book, The Harm Reduction Gap, and how we can help end the overdose crisis.

At the Vital Strategies Overdose Prevention Program, we recognize that the fight for sex workers’ rights, and our work to reduce fatal overdose and drug related harms, are inextricably tied and closely aligned with the goals and values of supporting those most affected by the criminalization of drug use.

Looking back on Vital Strategies' Overdose Prevention Team's projects in 2023

To mark the day, Vital Strategies and hundreds of organizations and government agencies across the country are mounting community memorial events and rallying support for harm reduction services.

The Health Equity Harm Reduction Grant is the first of its kind in the state, bolstering the Overdose Prevention Program’s overall mission to address overdose through public health initiatives, rather than punitive policies.

The Vital Strategies Overdose Prevention Program is offering support, resources and guidance to state and local governments seeking to drive spending of opioid settlement funds towards health-oriented services that have been shown to reduce overdose and improve health outcomes.

People who use drugs and those engaged in sex work can face similar challenges—stigma, denial of health care, the risk of experiencing violence. Criminalization of behaviors and a punitive approach to the issue is at the root of these harmful outcomes and many more.

For Black History Month, Vital Strategies is highlighting the work of Black authors who’ve penned books about harm reduction, the war on drugs, Black Liberation, and the abolitionist movement.