Guest Author - Susan Hubenthal
Since the death of my son Kelly, in 1996, I have looked at alternative ways of saving the lives of our children from the ravages of opiate drug overdose and death. The Drug Policy Alliance is working hard to help pass a bill in Congress that would help save lives. I first became involved with the DPA in 2000, and I have attended some of their conferences and on occasion spoke on the behalf of my son. Saving lives with harm reduction has been uppermost in my search for ways to keep our children safe and alive.
In a letter to Drug Policy Alliance supporters, Ethan Nadelman had this to say:
"It's a classic drug war ploy: The government takes a very real tragedy and then exploits it to create unfair and extremist drug policies. Well it's happening again, and I need your help.
In a year of rising overdose deaths and just a week after Michael Jackson's passing sparked a media firestorm about prescription drugs, the government is already starting to take steps to reduce access to prescription drugs. Databases that track your medications and threaten your privacy are already in the works, and who knows what might be next.
It's a hysterical overreaction taken right from the drug war playbook -- but there's a better way to prevent overdose deaths than to unfairly restrict people's access to their medicine.
That's why I need your help. Working closely with the Drug Policy Alliance, Rep. Donna F. Edwards (D - MD) has introduced a balanced and evidence-supported program for overdose prevention in Congress. This bill provides a sensible alternative to unfair restrictions on access to medication, and gives public health professionals more power to effectively prevent overdose. It could keep Congress from falling back on a typical drug war response to overdose that would damage people's lives. But we need your help to get the bill passed. Will you make a gift today to support our efforts to pass the Drug Overdose Reduction Act?
With your help, we will:
* Advocate for the Drug Overdose Reduction Act, which would save lives by increasing access to medications like the opiate antagonist naxolone, which can stop overdose before it is fatal. Naloxone is not widely available, but health guru and former emergency room physician Deepak Chopra said it could even have saved Michael Jackson if it had been on hand.
* Distribute our new overdose prevention report to every member of Congress so they know the truth about overdose and the drug war.
By passing this legislation, you and I can not only prevent thousands of overdose deaths each year, we can make sure the people who need pain medication can safely access their medicine.
Please, help us stop the drug war from claiming even more victims."
Thank you for all you do,
Ethan Nadelmann
Executive Director
Drug Policy Alliance Network
Please take time to read the Drug Overdose Reduction Act, H.R.2855, that was introduced by Rep. Donna Edwards of MD. We must support this Bill in order to start a realistic approach to saving lives from opiate drug overdose deaths.
Whether or not you agree with Nadelman and the DPA, we must find ways to save the lives of our youth. Harm reduction has been around for many years. We buckle up our kids in the car, we have them wear helmets when riding their bikes, they wear life jackets when boating. Having naloxone available to those at risk is a sensible harm reduction practice. My son might very well be alive today if this life saving practice were in place in 1996.
