McClements: 1.8% decrease in overdose deaths is not political victory
Jordan McClements is an overdose crisis writer who will be attending Northwestern University’s Medill School of Journalism this fall for his master’s degree in social justice and solutions journalism. The Dover resident survived overdose but lost a cousin to it.
After I started using heroin in 2016, my overdose in 2017 and my cousin’s death to an overdose in 2019, Delaware seems to be waiting to see what other states are doing to combat this crisis.
Instead, the state should be looking to the use of safer supply, like Canada, whose government reports:
“Safer supply services provide prescribed medications to people who use drugs, overseen by a health care practitioner, with the goal of preventing overdoses and saving lives. They are provided in a less clinical and more flexible way compared to other care options for substance use, such as opioid agonist treatment (OAT). For example, safer supply services may offer:
- a range of medication options
- accessible locations (for example, services available at a community health centre)
- flexible eligibility requirements
- flexible dosing conditions and carrying rules (for example, clients may be able to pick up their supply and use as needed)
- flexible client goals (for example, focusing on improving health and not requiring that clients stop using illegal drugs)
“These services are intended to reach people at risk of overdose for whom currently available care options have been ineffective or inappropriate.”
Safer supply can provide opioid medications, stimulant medications and benzodiazepines.
Safer supply as a harm reduction practice includes support beyond drug use alone. The Canadian government states:
“In some cases, safer supply services include providing or connecting people with other health and social services, where possible and appropriate, such as:
- general medical care, including substance use disorder treatment programs
- mental health counseling
- supports for any other health conditions, such as HIV/AIDS and Hepatitis C
- employment supports
- housing supports”
The state of Delaware has not made any call to action to remove state and federal red tape around safer supply in Delaware, which costs lives to overdoses every year.
And Delaware is looking to Philadelphia to understand xylazine, which also costs lives to overdoses in Delaware every year.
We must wake up, Delaware. We must change ourselves. We must save lives through our innovation, Delaware. We must cut state and federal red tape from safer supply in Delaware. Stop waiting for the federal government to institute safer supply and innovate, Delaware. We must create an overdose reversal medication for xylazine. Stop waiting for Philadelphia’s treatment of xylazine and innovate, Delaware.
The drug supply is poisoned. Poisoned supply is why your loved one isn’t here. Poisoned supply is why my cousin isn’t here. Poisoned supply is why I overdosed. If you use drugs, the poisoned supply is going to kill you. Someone you love is going to overdose in Delaware from the poisoned supply. The poisoned supply is why some of you won’t be here.
When you see your loved one next time, don’t simply tell them you love them. Show them. Show your loved one you love them by contacting our Delaware representatives to cut red tape from safer supply on the state and federal level, and create a xylazine overdose reversal medication through Delaware innovation. Don’t you want to see your loved one again, who is in crisis now? We must have a safer supply and xylazine overdose reversal medication, so overdose doesn’t have to happen to another person, like it happened to us.
When are we going to hold ourselves accountable for tackling the most important issue of the overdose crisis — safer supply? Overdoses will increase in Delaware because we, as a state, cannot go beyond our own thinking if we don’t institute safer supply and a xylazine overdose reversal medication.
You want the answers to the unsheltered crisis and the overdose crisis? Change. Now. Change, by saving your loved one. Change, by loving someone else. Change, by being yourself. When you change, we change. When we change, we save our state. When we change, we save lives.
Drug use is chasing an eclipse, grasping for light. Delaware needs a rapture. We all need a rapture. The rapture of stopping overdose in Delaware is through safer supply, a xylazine overdose reversal medication and further harm reduction.
Reader reactions, pro or con, are welcomed at civiltalk@iniusa.org.
