Street Speak
Street Speak
Episode 18: What is Harm Reduction? With Laura Guzman and Shakema Straker
In this episode we host Laura Guzman- the Executive Director at the National Harm Reduction Coalition and Shakema Straker, human rights organizer and harm reduction advocate at the Coalition on Homelessness. Our guests discuss the basic tenets of harm reduction and the data and research that champions harm reduction as an evidence based practice. We explore the harmful misconceptions and stigma that surrounds the overdose crisis, drug use and substance use disorders and the harmful narratives and policies that we are seeing at a local, state and national level. Our guests end with discussing how we can continue to shape counter narratives and fight the stigma.
"Harm Reduction is Loving People Back to Health."
You are listening to Street Speak Podcast, where we answer your burning questions about homelessness and poverty in San Francisco. This podcast is produced by the Street Sheet newspaper.
Speaker 2:Hi there, welcome to Street Speak. This is the podcast of Street Sheet, the street newspaper in San Francisco that is sponsored by the Coalition on Homelessness. We have today on our show a really wonderful life-saving topic called harm reduction, and a lot of people, you know, are kind of confused about what harm reduction is. Harm reduction is under attack. Under attack. It's actually a really beautiful, very successful model to engage folks who are struggling with substance use in you know how to reach their goals and improve their health. And so we have with us here two awesome guests. We have Laura Guzman, who is the director of the National Harm Reduction Coalition, and we have our very own, shakima Stryker, who is an organizer on human rights and housing justice and has a background working on harm reduction issues. And so what we wanted to do is start with you, laura, and have you introduce yourself and your background and just tell us a little bit about you.
Speaker 1:Know who you are and just tell us a little bit about you. Know who you are. Well, good morning. I'm very excited to be here because, in my role doing Hummer Action work in San Francisco, this is my 30-year anniversary. So I've been doing for 30 years this work. I'll talk in a minute about how the coalition was founded, actually in 1994. And we did so much work in San Francisco actually in 1994, and we did so much work in San Francisco.
Speaker 1:My career has been always as an advocate for unhoused people and always in the intersection with health.
Speaker 1:So I was for 17 years the director of the Mission Neighborhood Resource Center in the Mission and then have moved to the coalition to direct our California work initially and now as executive director at the national level. I wanted to also say that I have this awesome memory that when I started to work with coalition and I met Jennifer in 1997, it's because I was invited to do this clinics we were doing throughout the city so we could preserve the benefits of people who receive social security and SSI who are going to lose it because of welfare deform. This is back in the Clinton era where we were going to get these folks to actually lose their benefits if they had a history of drug and alcohol use, so my history goes way back of doing this work in close collaboration with the coalition. And then just to name who we are the National Harm Reaction Coalition that was founded in Oakland, california, in 1994. It's a national capacity building organization and we promote the health, dignity and rights of people and communities impacted by drug use upon communities impacted by drug use Amazing, and we had so much fun working on preserving people's social security benefits.
Speaker 1:It was really going to be quite devastating and actually worked with the mayor's office and Mayor Willie Brown was really helpful in those efforts as well and if you remember, I think we were the only jurisdiction in the entire United States that we managed to preserve I think it was almost 90% of people who were SSI recipients on benefits as a result of our collaboration throughout the city.
Speaker 2:Yeah, because almost everybody on disability had some element, some percentage of their disability was granted because of substance use, and that was really common in those days, and because you wanted to add up to 100% and you know all of that. So that was really, that was really important work. And the work continues and is so beautiful. So, kima, tell us a little bit more about yourself.
Speaker 3:So my name is Shakima, but I typically go by Kima, and my journey with harm reduction actually started about 15 years ago at a rave, and so this was before I even knew what I was doing was called harm reduction. I just felt naturally drawn to educating people about substances and providing emotional support and it really just felt like a way for supporting and showing up for my community. Um, and then I met someone um out here in Oakland at a rave who was, and I was talking to them about my work and how I wanted to kind of expand it in the underground scene and she was like, have you ever heard of harm reduction? Um, you know, I run an organization. I'd love for you to be a part of it.
Speaker 3:And so the journey really started there. And I'd love for you to be a part of it. And so the journey really started there and I kind of started diving headfirst into trainings and workshops so that I can learn about the principles of harm reduction. And then I went back to school and now I'm finishing my master's of social work and over the years I've worked with several organizations throughout the Bay Area, like Harm Reduction Therapy Center at MPL San Francisco, which serves more of the LGBTQ plus community. And now I'm here at the coalition as a housing justice organizer and I'm still continuing to find ways to, you know, tie in harm reduction into my advocacy work.
Speaker 3:That's exciting, kima, to hear your story yeah it's a lot of education, but also lived experience as well.
Speaker 2:Yeah, you know, this is, you know, two local heroes. I am so happy to have you both on here. So, lawada, why don't you just start out a little bit talking about some? People are kind of confused about what harm reduction is. What are the basic tenets of harm reduction? And it's an evidence-based practice. Maybe some examples?
Speaker 1:Sure, and I like to start always with phrases. We do that a lot, we're trainers, but there's a phrase from Edith Springer, who was actually my mentor and was one of the founders of the Harm Reduction Coalition, that said harm reduction is loving people back to health. And I love to start that way because it gives the dimension of the importance of harm reduction, because it is a public health strategy. But for us it's also social justice imperative and we are working always in the intersection of overdose, hiv, hepatitis C, stigma and criminalization and confronting structural inequities that drive drug-related harm, and that includes racism, poverty, lack of housing and the limited access to health care by millions of people in this country, by millions of people in this country. We also believe the war on drugs has always been a war against poor people, in particular Black, native and Latina, and that war strategy combines criminalization, stigmatization and structural racism to cause harm. So I just want to be very clear that for us it's public health plus. We believe that it's also social justice imperative In terms of the services that, by the way, almost all of them have been proven to be quote unquote evidence-based meaning that science supports harm reduction includes syringe access and disposal, safer drug use supplies.
Speaker 1:So the ability to supply, you know, instruments or suministros, things that help people to stay safe when they use drugs, overdose prevention and response and I want to pause for a minute to say overdose prevention and response, the positive naloxone happen by harm reductionists in this country and I want to always uplift the godparents of our movement, like Dan Biggs, who were the first to bring naloxone and distribute it illegally in the United States so we save lives.
Speaker 1:It was actually part of the Harm Reaction Coalition and our networks that we started saving lives way, way before 30 years before that the government decided that it's a good thing. And then linkages and collocation of substance use treatment housing first, were really adamant. And in San Francisco, let's say, we had all of the new exchange and all of the you know what is considered syringe service programs growing and all of the you know what is considered syringe service programs growing. But we also, from the beginning since 1995, we started imbuing the notion that people who use substances are they should get in housing, we should protect them, we should support them and they should stay in housing. And then, last but not least, safer consumption sites are also part of our repertoire of you know the kind of services that we consider harm reduction.
Speaker 2:All right. Well, shakima, do you have anything to add to that in terms of you know the tenets of harm reduction?
Speaker 3:No, I completely agree with everything that was said, especially about the ways in which harm reduction realizes social inequities. So, you know, it takes a moment to consider poverty and racism and trauma and how all those things impact, you know, someone's vulnerability to substance use and also their ability to find stability and address it effectively, and I think that all those things are important to helping people understand their relationships with substances and how those factors have affected their lives so that they can find recovery and stability. Yeah, and I think that that's really important.
Speaker 1:Thank you, akima. I want to add one thing that I forgot and tell me, akima, also, if you agree, I think one of the biggest pieces of Hummer Action because it was brought for people with lived experience, researchers, you know, queer people, people with HIV, aids in the United States is that we believe the leadership of those impacted by substance use is key to transformational change and also we're big believers that you know, in order to bring long-lasting change, not only we need people impacted at the table actually recommending what needs to happen, what do they need to develop that change, but we also think that it's very important that you know this is a liberatory practice and that there is choices in what we choose to do with our bodies. So we also have a very you know, a very adamant stand around, you know, voluntary, choosing what works for us, right?
Speaker 2:Yeah, yeah, beautiful. So you know, you know this next piece is around. You know why harm reduction is important, and I just want to know, you know, back in again under Willie Brown, you know, going back, we did the treatment on demand campaign out of the Coalition on Homelessness, and at that time, there was, you know, nafta had just been passed, and the heroin prices had dropped down. Our overdose rates started to skyrocket. Actually, san Francisco had the, at that time, had the highest overdose rates in the country, and that effort really led to a lot of different things, not least of all the reduction of fatal overdoses, and one of the projects is actually under national harm reduction coalition dope, which does a lot of education and elevating of people who use drugs as trainers of others on how to prevent overdoses.
Speaker 2:And part of that, though, is that, when you know, when we started that out, we basically had a system that was kind of just only social model, very institutional, very kind of a process, where the idea would be to break people down, and so they would have these kind of attack therapy kind of thing, and then, when people were broken down, and then they would build them back up, and that was it did work for some people, but very few, and a lot of folks were left out in this whole idea that you had to do tough love kind of the opposite of what we're talking about here and that people had to hit rock bottom before they could get help and you have to.
Speaker 2:You know, I mean, it's just this whole philosophy that was actually proven to not be very effective for most people. And so you know, kind of looking at what the system used to be, now looking at, you know, now we have a, you know, growth and learning and really a lot of change in how we address substance uses, shakima, starting with you. Why do you feel that harm reduction is important?
Speaker 3:Very strictly because of you know what you just said exactly. I think that harm reduction recognizes that recovery looks different for everyone and it also recognizes that, you know, abstinence might work for some, moderation might work for others, medicated assisted therapy might work for others, and every single one of those are, you know, valid approaches and valid reasons for someone to be able to access services or even just find stability in their lives. And I think that harm reduction is important to act as like a stepping stone towards recovery, because people may not engage with those traditional forms of treatment, especially if it requires abstinence, and then therefore they're not able to get and receive the services that will really help them get to where they need to be. And I think that harm reduction recognizes that, even without complete abstinence, people deserve the dignity and respect and ability to improve their health, to find stable housing, to be able to reconnect with their family and rebuild their lives. And I think that that is what makes it so important to me.
Speaker 2:Yeah, yeah, and I mean there's this idea too. I just want to add that we talked about a lot in the early days about, you know, if we're thinking about substance use as being a and you know a medical issue, when people have very you know severe addictive disorders and they're using more, that's a symptom. And so if you're looking at any kind of other medical approach, when your symptoms are increasing, usually you increase the treatment to address those symptoms, and we had a system back in the day that basically pulled away treatment, that denied treatment as symptoms were appearing, and I think that is a really important thing for folks to understand. Laura, do you have anything else to add to that, Any stories about folks you know who have been on this journey of harm reduction, or any data and research that you want to add to this conversation?
Speaker 1:Well, I think Kima said it so well, but I wanted to just add a couple of things. I directed a drop-in center for 17 years in San Francisco, so I was working with our house communities, by the way, which not all engage in using substances. I know we're going to talk later about the stigma and the language, but I want to say that it's important to know. Besides that it's like Shakima says, it's an entry point, it's also a continuum right. The importance of harm reduction is that not only we reach most vulnerable populations that are the target of the war on drugs, primarily right through poverty, through racism to transphobia, but also that we keep those, you know communities engaging care. And this is so important because in a lot of the traditional notion not only about how much do you treat someone for what, and in fact I would say people who use substances tend to be always in this separate category than any other people that have you know, any other particular disorder, if the person has a substance use disorder. But I think that keeping individuals engaged in care and also responding to the impact on you know the impact of substance use. So when I was at the Resource Center, we, you know, we used to see 300 people a day, out of which I would say maybe a quarter of our community was really impacted At the time was, you know, injection. It was in the mission, so it was speedballing. You know it was the tradition of injecting heroin and meth and we did some work. That was amazing. We had our women, for example, who were really interested in kicking heroin and so we collaborated to get them on methadone. This was before Medi-Cal was covered in methadone and therefore people had to pay for it and therefore we had our women, through our women's program, really engaged in trying to, you know, stay on methadone so they could actually attend to other health needs or any other needs in their lives. We also had to respond to a disproportionate impact of alcohol in Latino immigrants that were on the street sleeping under a freeway and, you know, for 17 years very unable to enter into any housing, until we opened, you know, casa Quesada and other programs that we were able to support them and therefore, you know, having real conversations about alcohol and actually support because we had a medical clinic for those that were already willing and able.
Speaker 1:I think the need for harm reduction is huge in what we call this arena of drug user health, because the bottom line is still people are mistreated by medical doctors, by therapists, by the treatment programs, by the overall systems of care that it's very important that we still have so much work to do to really in some ways make sure that this continuum, this framework, is embedded. And talking about data I mean I could spend a whole hour talking about data but I can tell you that you know, up to the harm reduction is no longer, you know, a fringe kind of thing, because we have had the CDC and SAMHSA and the National Institute of Health and NIDA all showing through study after study that harm reduction, the science supports harm reduction, that we've seen a continuous and consistent decrease on HIV-HCV incidence, that the decrease of overdose death actually is directly related to overdose responses through naloxone, in particular in the hands of those most impacted. And linkage to treatment and actually retention into treatment. We did this study in California at the California Hummer Action Initiative 2021 to 2023. Who were otherwise given linkages or an appointment to do substance use, in particular what is called medication-assisted treatment for opioids. Access and retention to healthcare I mean I served in a clinic, that we had a clinic and actually by treating with dignity and respect the people who were impacted by substance substances.
Speaker 1:We managed to get them to do primary care right to address other medical conditions, because we don't talk enough to say when people are on the streets their medical condition worsens because of the, you know, violent conditions, that is, living outdoors, housing. First, we have the data and there's also data about overdose prevention sites across the world that shows that it diminishes crime and actually saves lives. So to close, in this piece about data research, I want to say that there is an interesting quote. When we were doing work in Skull County, kentucky, very conservative, those folks actually got it and we had a legislator that says, after I review the science and the data, harm reduction is a no-brainer for me. So I think that it's interesting that we keep pushing the data that is there. But of course, because this is a war on poor people, the data sometimes is not enough and when politicians are getting reelected or law enforcement pushes to reopen jails, the data goes down. You know, down the drain, but the data is there. Harm reduction is a no brainer for us.
Speaker 2:Yeah, absolutely, and I know we're. Unfortunately, a lot of these studies are going to get halted at this point, but the data, as you said, is there. I think this is a good place to segue into stigma and kind of what you know. How does stigma affect overdose and drug use and what are some common myths and misconceptions that permeate our perception of the overdose crises and drug use or substance use disorders? Shakima, do you have any thoughts on this?
Speaker 3:Yeah, I think the biggest one really is like hearing that you know about absence being the only real recovery, real version of recovery, and I don't think people realize that absence can also be a harm reduction goal.
Speaker 3:It's just not the only goal and I feel like that's really frustrating because it's just very limited and it doesn't recognize that recovery can be self-defined down into people who use drugs, where there's like this hierarchy of people not believing that those who are using medicated assisted treatment are actually like fully in recovery because they are technically still using drugs, and I think that all the stigma and misconception it's what prevents people from seeking help, as Laura mentioned, especially within medical settings.
Speaker 3:As Laura mentioned, especially within medical settings, a lot of my experience while handing out safe use supplies has actually been. The next step was always connecting know condoms and lubricant, because they were too afraid to go to a clinic and face judgment about their work. There was actually an older, unhoused man that didn't even use substances but he was, you know, having like bowel incontinence and he used sanitary napkins, like pads, and he just wanted to not feel embarrassed about asking for those, and so we were able to build, you know, a really good relationship and we're able to connect him with the clinic and realize that he also had some underlying health issues. So the stigma and the shame is something that kind of like spreads throughout society and it's something that keeps people from living the lives that they can live.
Speaker 2:Yeah and so so. On point Laura, how has the political landscape affected harm reduction? You know what's going on currently. You know we saw Donald Trump and his you know executive order that demonized drug users, while he is slashing treatment by cutting Medicaid, which will mean a lot of loss of access to treatment for many, many folks. But what trends are you seeing at the local level, state level, national level, around this issue?
Speaker 1:Well, I'd like to start before Trump always, because obviously we have been seeing this trend I would say in the last, probably like this trend of what I would call backlash, in the last two, three years after COVID. And let me just say that during COVID, the people most supporting and responding to people on the streets were actually syringe service programs, because nobody else was around. I reached programs by cities and counties, you know people stay home and these were the people that actually saved lives at the same time that we saw a much more harmful drug supply with the you know introduction of fentanyl in the West Coast in particular in 2019, 2020. But I would say the response should be criminalization to a public health issue. We have done it for over 50 years and it doesn't work. So the return to criminalization as a strategy is a political strategy, is a failed political and policy strategy that we have been doing any time that again, you know, I always say the empire is collapsing. So at this point we have to do any harsh measures to not show the level of poverty and homelessness and pain and crisis that are, you know, the people most vulnerable are in a, you know, in a country that is really starting to become a third world country. Having you know, having been born and raised in a third world country, I can see the parallels. So I would say the criminalization is the response, mandatory treatment is the response, jailing, you know, the stick, not the carrot, because also there's no much carrot. There has been never an amplification of the resources needed to support, in general, the behavioral health needs of poor people, in particular black, brown, native people, trans and queer people who are poor. We never done the scaling, harm reduction, scaling the resources that we need, scaling trauma-informed care. So therefore, that's what we've seen. And so, at the local level, we started seeing, definitely in San Francisco, I think, philly, philadelphia, the Kensington area. You know, the new mayor came two years ago to say we're not going to do syringe exchange, they don't allow mobile vans for health care in Kensington because there is this, you know this. What they do is this screen I call it the screen, what smoke screen? To show that if somehow we put people in jail which is again that is exactly how racial capitalism works then you're not going to see them.
Speaker 1:That doesn't mean that we have addressed either the overdose crisis or the impact of substance use disorder in those folks that are heavily impacted. The focus on the drugs know what causes people to have chaotic relationship with drugs the pain, the trauma, right Homelessness that actually causes all of this pain that may get folks to be in really difficult relationship with drugs. The conflagration between substance use and substance use disorder. That's what we see.
Speaker 1:The word addicts and, by the way, there is no such a diagnosis like addiction, it's actually substance use disorder, alcohol use disorder. And then we hear people throwing here oh, everyone on the streets are addicts, they're all alcoholics. But basically the trends that we are now seeing ramp up by Trump in a very, you know, fascist, authoritarian way. We have been seeing it across localities and states. In California we had actually lawsuits by citizens with the support of law enforcement in Santa Cruz against the Santa Cruz Nail Exchange. We saw also another assault in Santa Maria, in Orange County, where now we cannot have a syringe service program as a result of this political and really misaligned strategy of criminalization and the fantasy that not using substances is the way to go for poor people.
Speaker 2:Right, yeah, I mean, there's so much going on here and you know, the ironic thing is is that our local politicians, who often, you know, basically you know, war on criminalization of drug users, they do these massive sweeps every Monday night where they do large numbers of arrests, san Francisco had to open up a new jail to accommodate all of the new arrests, not to mention the arrests of homeless people, because we had, you know, a thousand of those over the last year for lodging. So it's been very, very intensive.
Speaker 1:Can I ask Shakima, because I think this is an important piece, shakima, what is your impression? I think there is also direct correlation between, you know, the systemic racism against our communities and this new belief in building jails and facilities. Is there anything else you want to add, because I feel that we need to also name how this is. You know, in some ways, the continuation of the targeting of Black and brown bodies.
Speaker 3:Oh no, absolutely. I think that these new policies are going to impact vulnerable populations the most, and disproportionately. It's going to affect people experiencing homelessness, people of color, the LGBTQ community and also people with mental health conditions, and all these communities are already facing significant barriers to healthcare access to service, access to resources, and I think that it's just going to make this situation worse for sure.
Speaker 2:You know fentanyl is basically used as an excuse because it's a stronger drug. That then we therefore need to go back to these tried and failed strategies. Yet you know, if someone's addicted to fentanyl or addicted to anything else, there's going to be those underlying issues. Maybe they have severe trauma, adverse childhood events, history of sexual violence against them. You know all of these things, you know, and, of course, as we just talked about, living in, you know, under the structures of extreme racism and transphobia, and so how do we organize against this? And maybe you know, talk a little bit about the power of counter narratives.
Speaker 3:And maybe Shakima you would want to start on that one.
Speaker 3:Sure, I feel like Laura kind of touched on this earlier kind of like using non-stigmatizing and power force language I think is important in combating that stigma.
Speaker 3:You know the difference between you know saying someone that calling someone a drug addict versus a person with substance use disorder and things like that, because when you do that you're reducing someone's humanity, reduce their identity all the way down to just their singularly, their relationship with substances. And I think that language is powerful. It shapes, you know, ideas, it shapes how we perceive the world around us, and not just for the people that are being called these words, but for society, for the world that we live in. And so I think that choosing words deeply and being critical about the words that we use is really important in combating stigma and negative bias. And I think that maybe also within the media, I think that the media can do a better job of not focusing on the trauma but also amplifying the voices of those who are being impacted and sharing their successes as well also amplifying the voices of those who are being impacted and sharing their successes as well.
Speaker 1:Yeah, absolutely, laura. Do you have anything to add? And specifically, how we can uplift voices of people who use people living or lived experience on the narratives, and particularly in media or broadly, is so impactful? Because, you know, people don't take the bullshit right. People talk straight up to say what their experience has been and also, what is that we need to do? What is that people with lived experience, where are the folks that are in the front lines need? And I think the other piece that we haven't talked a little bit about is about what does it take to support people with living and lived experience to also start joining organizing efforts? And so I think that both go hand in hand is how, like Kima was saying, how do we challenge narratives? I do continuously when I with the media, I shift the narrative or challenge or send them research or say, hey, you know. In fact, this means this I recently had a conversation with Congress.
Speaker 1:Is it the office that actually does procurements? I can't remember. It's an independent office. I sent them all the data we had about naloxone because you know, as you know, one of the reasons why I think this administration and other government have been pushing, I think it's called what is it Nalmefim, which is this extra powerful naloxone which what it does is actually is so strong that actually get people in precipitated withdrawal. It's actually punishment and they're trying to make money. So, gao office, the GAO office I actually had a meeting with them and I sent them all the data that we had because we had our syringe service programs organized in California sent into California the note that we don't want that particular form of it's called high-dose naloxone sold or either distributed in California, because people with lived experience are feeling like it's torture. So just giving you an example of the kind of things we have to be challenging across the board with government, with media, and making sure that people who use drugs have a real voice in this fighting backlash.
Speaker 2:Yeah, absolutely. You know it's playing out in San Francisco. This attack on harm reduction is, you know, has been in one of our previous episodes. If listeners haven't heard, it focuses on housing first, but there seems to be also, you know, this is kind of a theme that we've been talking about. That I just want to highlight is the profit involved in a lot of these interventions and you know, sometimes it might be a big nonprofit that, because the quality of their services isn't so great, wants forced treatment as a way to fill their beds so that they're able to bill. It is the profiteering off of for-profit carceral systems in prisons and it's also there's a profit in some of the medication pieces that are problematic. Of course, a lot of medications are incredibly beneficial, you know. So many of this is, you know. I mean, I think a lot of what's happening is very greed-based rather than coming from a perspective of actually solving the issue. So I just wanted to highlight that for listeners, because I have been hearing both of you mention that in your comments.
Speaker 1:Jenny, can I say something since I had some data I wanted to share for this podcast and this is probably a little older data, maybe from 2020, 2021. From Skull County.
Speaker 1:A lot of studies have been done in Skull County because that was very conservative back in the days they had this peak of HIV epidemic that resulted in them embracing home reaction for a minute and basically the cost of four syringe service programs that are funded across the country. I think the top amount might be $135,000 a year. That's their budget, which is $135,000. But in Scott County at a particular point in time they also compare what a syringe service program will cost with what it will cost if 135 people who were confirmed to have HIV and hepatitis C will cost to the state, and that was $48 million. This was again $48 million a year for serving and treating 135 people who have contracted both HIV and hepatitis C.
Speaker 1:Most syringe service programs are still run by volunteers and even in states like California, where we've done incredible work trying to get funded by the legislature, where we get actually funding through Opioid Salmon funding, the most that our programs get is $200,000 a year. Just to have some context about how much the folks who are saving lives get paid versus what we are costing. I just read that I think this week in Washington DC, last week, every day, trump is spending about $400,000 on all that you know photo shoots that they're doing up in DC. Just to show the contrast.
Speaker 2:Yeah, well, yeah, so I think you know one of the pieces we wanted to close out here and hear from Laura you how we can support, how listeners can support, the National Harm Reduction Coalition or any other harm reduction efforts. Um, I just also wanted to hear from both of you um any last thoughts that you had um things that you think it's important for listeners to know about harm reduction.
Speaker 1:So I'll go on how to support National Hammer Action Coalition. So if you want to get any information, we have tons of information in our website, which is wwwhammeractionorg. That includes a Naloxone finder for jurisdictions where people need to know where to find Naloxone. To some of our initiatives or special projects. It's our 30-year anniversary. We're going to very soon go viral, so any individual donor support is greatly appreciated, because most of us, as you all know, that depend on some government contracts or some particular foundations, never get paid enough to keep our business going. So we will appreciate that support and I just want to say thank you to the coalition. The ways in which unhoused people have been criminalized and people who poor people who use drugs have been criminalized, and connecting those dots and working together is critical. And for those people who still are on the fence, just read the data, read what the facts are, listen to people who use drugs. Those are the real experts in this field.
Speaker 2:So thank you so much. Yeah, and I just want to, just in case folks don't know what naloxone is. It's otherwise known as Narcan and it's the overdose reversing drug. Shakima, did you have anything you wanted to add?
Speaker 3:I think I just wanted to encourage you know any supporters or advocates or community organizations to just keep fighting. I know that it's really easy to lose faith with all these challenges, but we're a resilient bunch and we're here to continue to keep serving our communities. We have the data on our side, we have each other, we have our allies, so let's keep fighting and protecting our community, especially the most vulnerable.
Speaker 2:Great, beautiful, yeah, and I just want to kind of highlight, you know, as we close out here, another thread that we were hearing a lot through this conversation, and that is that you know drug users and folks with addictive disorders are a diverse bunch and that their paths are not going to look exactly like the other Sometimes. You know people are in recovery and they think that their path is the only path, and I think that just doesn't play out. They're only an expert on their own recovery and so we need, you know, there's a kind of a false dichotomy right now housing versus treatment. Don't do housing, do treatment instead. Well, we need both, right?
Speaker 2:Folks are coming out of treatment and ending up back on the streets. That doesn't work. Folks who are in housing can access treatment, if they need it, from housing and have a lot more success, and the data bears that out as well. Lot more success, and the data bears that out as well. We also have to remember that homelessness because of course this is a coalition on homelessness that homelessness itself drives increasing rates of addictive disorders. It also drives higher rates of mental health issues because of that trauma and that experience of homelessness, and so it doesn't make sense to say then okay, you know we have an affordability crisis with regard to housing. We as a people have not made sure in the United States that people have access to safe and decent housing, and so, now that you're homeless, we're now going to punish you for the symptoms of homelessness that are coming up out of that experience, criminalize you, etc. And so you know, the tried and failed strategies are not going to work today, just like they didn't work yesterday.
Speaker 2:So I do want to remind listeners, if you don't know already, that we are having our annual art auction. It's Art Auction 25 on September 11th at SOMA Arts, and we also have an online bidding that opens up September 2nd. We have incredible raffle prizes everything from tattoos to Sonoma weekend to wine, and folks can also buy those raffle tickets starting September 2nd and start bidding on art. And so we would love to see you at our event for information on the art auction and also looking at all of our different reports and research that we've done internally in collaboration with universities, where you can learn more about a lot of these issues. Go to cohsforg, so cohsforg, so cohsforg initials for coalition on homelessness, sanfranciscoorg. So I want to really thank our listeners for tuning in and taking the time to learn about this important issue. I want to thank our fabulous guests here today Laura Guzman from the National Harm Reduction Coalition and Shakima Straker from here at the Coalition on Homelessness. And please, everyone remember that opening line from Laura about love. And now I can't remember exactly what it is.
Speaker 1:Harm reduction is loving people back to health. Harm reduction is love Love people back to health.
Speaker 2:Yeah, you know, and yeah, and really that's what all of us are bringing here is a lot of love, and love will counter the hate that folks are facing out on the street. So I know it's tough, and have a beautiful day.
Speaker 1:Thank you, jenny. Thank you Lupe and Shakima. Love, mad love and crazy times. Thank you, talk to you soon.
Speaker 2:Thank you for listening to Street Speak. Join us again soon for more.