New NC Video on Opiate Overdose Mortality Prevention

Harm Reductionists Talk about Opiate Overdose Mortality Prevention

The video can be found at the following link: http://vimeo.com/51111302

(Because of the detailed animated infographics in this video, it is recommended that it be played at full-screen size.)

Jeff McDowell, Executive Director of the Atlanta Harm Reduction Coalition (recently featured on PBS's "Frontline"), discusses Naloxone and shares a vivid story of a street overdose that he reversed and how some users are more concerned about the threat of legal action against them than about saving other's lives. Corey Davis, Staff Attorney for the Network for Public Health Law, talks about Naloxone access, the typical opiate user and "911 Good Samaritan" laws. Whitney Englander, Government Relations Manager for Harm Reduction Coalition, highlights the urgency of prescription medication overdose prevention in light of CDC data and emphasizes the need for Good Sam laws. Allan Clear, Executive Director of Harm Reduction Coalition, discusses the overdose problem both in general and in comparison to the AIDS epidemic and also shares about his personal history of knowing people who have died from overdoses.

Most of this material was recorded at the Southern Harm Reduction and Drug Policy Network conference September 6-8, 2012, in Atlanta, GA.

A second overdose prevention video, focusing on North Carolina users and family members, is coming soon.

Produced, shot and edited by Hadley Gustafson for North Carolina Harm Reduction Coalition.