(WASHINGTON, DC) – As the people around the world come together to spread a message of remembrance for those who have died from overdoses and acknowledge the grief of family and friends left behind, the Foundation for Drug Policy Solutions (FDPS) celebrates International Overdose Awareness Day (August 31) by spreading a message promoting a broader range of prevention, treatment, recovery and critical life-saving measures. FDPS President Dr. Kevin Sabet, a former White House drug policy advisor to Presidents Obama, Bush, and Clinton, released the following statement:
“Today, we join millions of people around the world in coming together to mourn those whose lives have been cut tragically short because of the spread of dangerous drugs. The victims deserve our commemoration, and their families need our comfort and compassion. But we and other nations around the world must do much more than just mourn and grieve.
“It is critical that we use the sense of community that today engenders to move the conversation beyond the benefits of a harm -reduction only approach. Those interventions, like naloxone, surely deserve our enthusiastic support, but we have to do more. We have to ask the question, “What comes next?” after we revive someone, and we have to have the necessary linkages to detox and treatment. We must use this day as a rallying cry to meet people in their addiction, but we cannot leave them there. Today, we call lawmakers at every level of government to do more to stop the spread of these illicit substances. We also urge policy makers to chart a course forward that overcomes this crisis through a comprehensive approach that favors a wide range of responses, including demand reduction, supply reduction, treatment, and recovery. We have all seen the benefits of fast acting intervention methods like naloxone, but intervention alone will not stem the tide of this crisis. We can and must be doing more. Today must be a call to real action.”