The numbers are now frighteningly familiar: Last year more than 100,000 people died of drug overdoses, bringing the total death toll to more than 1 million since the invention of OxyContin in 1996. By 2030 another million people are projected to die. Americans are more likely to die of an accidental drug overdose-especially when it involves fentanyl, a synthetic opioid 50 to 100 times stronger than heroin and surreptitiously laced into other drugs than in a car accident.
But cars would kill 15,000 more people a year were it not for seatbelts. Seatbelts, helmet laws, and air bags are harm-reduction strategies. They reduce the negative consequences of risky behavior.
For decades, drug policy experts have recommended that we embrace the seatbelts of drug use: overdose-reversing medicine like naloxone, kits that make it easy to test drugs for fentanyl, and clean needles that reduce the spread of deadly diseases associated with intravenous drug use, like HIV and hepatitis C. Joe Biden is the first president to embrace harm reduction as an essential part of the nation's drug policy. As part of the American Rescue Plan, he put $30 million to "support community-based overdose prevention programs, syringe services programs, and other harm reduction services." In May the Department of Health and Human Services promised $1.5 billion for state and local initiatives, including harm reduction, to combat addiction.
This story is from the {{IssueName}} edition of {{MagazineName}}.
Start your 7-day Magzter GOLD free trial to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 9,000+ magazines and newspapers.
Already a subscriber ? Sign In
This story is from the {{IssueName}} edition of {{MagazineName}}.
Start your 7-day Magzter GOLD free trial to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 9,000+ magazines and newspapers.
Already a subscriber? Sign In
WHEN IN DROUGHT
This obscure yet adaptable grain could be a healthy staple for a warming planet.
GLOBAL WARNING
Why Project 2025 is an environmental catastrophe in the making
BAD HABITS
A spate of recent horror movies recycle tired tropes about nuns-and reveal society's ongoing discomfort with independent women.
Taking the Fifth For a glimpse of the Supreme Court after a second Trump term, look at the radical circuit court that's already driving America to the right.
Imagine obamacare is dead and millions of Americans have lost health coverage.
THE ARCHITECT
TRUMP WANTS TO BE KING. RUSS VOUGHT HAS A PLAN TO MAKE IT HAPPEN.
Losing Faith
As an evangelical leader, I enticed lawmakers and federal judges to adopt a conservative Christian agenda. Donald Trump’s rise proved how wrong I was.
GOD'S COUNTRY
These Christian nationalists have a plan to take over Americafrom small towns to the highest court in the land.
IN THE NAME OF THE MOTHER
How Shyamala Gopalan Harris raised a presidential contender
KILL THE MESSENGER
The anti-disinformation field is retreating under attack.
TRUMPNESIA
To get a second chance, Trump needs voters to forget his disastrous presidency.