Drug Policy Alliance staff and allies recently gathered at the biennial Harm Reduction Coalition conference in Miami, FL. The forum served as an exciting exchange of cutting-edge information, empowering ideas and successful strategies for incorporating harm reduction into direct community services, public policy and individual life choices.

The Harm Reduction Coalition (HRC) is a national advocacy and capacity-building organization that promotes the health and dignity of individuals and communities impacted by drug use. The coalition recognizes that the structures of social inequality impact the lives and options of affected communities differently, and the conference encouraged a dialogue between individuals from many different disciplines, backgrounds and personal experiences, including drug users and those with a history of drug use.

“The most helpful aspect of the conference was the roundtable discussion on overdose prevention policy, which had a good mix of service providers, advocates and a few people who inject drugs,” said Office of National Affairs Legislative Associate Grant Smith, who presented on the need for a serious federal response to the overdose crisis, including the need for better overdose surveillance data.  “It was especially helpful to hear feedback on ideas for federal advocacy around overdose prevention.” Smith will work with others at DPA on introducing a bill next year that would set up a federal grant program, improve federal data collection on overdose mortality/emergency room visits, and task a federal agency for the first time with reducing overdose death.

More information can be found at the HRC website, www.harmreduction.org.