On December 3, 2020 the Minnesota Department of Health (MDH) released a preliminary report showing a 31% increase in opioid overdose deaths for the first half of 2020, as compared to the same time period in 2019.
This report comes in the context of COVID-19, which has exposed as well as worsened issues impacting people who use drugs in the Twin Cities and across the U.S. Due to necessary safety precautions, COVID-19 resulted in the mass closure of health services and disrupted access to social support systems and routines. We’ve all been enduring this period of collective trauma, social isolation and profound stress – all of which are factors in some people’s decision to use drugs – and now we see the culminating effects of these factors in the increase in preventable overdose deaths. Rates of suicide and related mental health symptoms are also increasing. Additionally, while the Department of Health report does not breakdown their findings by demographic, we know that overdose deaths disproportionately affect Indigenous and Black communities. As evidenced by this past summer’s uprising, the level of racial and health disparities in Minnesota are some of the worst in the U.S. and this uneven access to care, resources and support often means already disenfranchised and under-resourced communities are bare the brunt of these preventable deaths.
Furthermore, the data show that this year was already on track to be worse than 2019 even before the state-wide shut downs began: in January and February, we had higher rates of preventable overdoses than last year. In short, COVID-19 has exasperated an already worsening crisis. 2019 had higher overdose death rates than 2018, and 2017: the opioid overdose epidemic is still here and worsening each year.
Despite these difficult findings, we must remember that overdose deaths are preventable. We – people who use drugs – know ways to reduce our risk, keep each other safe and fight for public policy that supports us in these strategies.
Some ways to reduce your risk of overdose are:
- carrying naloxone with you and knowing how to use it
- buying your drugs from the same supplier and doing test shots, going low and slow; you can always do more, you can’t do less
- avoid using alone or behind locked doors; if using alone, identify someone to check in with you while using
- have access to suboxone/methadone for if you can’t get dope but be careful when mixing two drugs.
- use new syringes and works whenever possible to reduce the chance for infections or other complications associated with drug use
Southside can be part of your safety plan. We deliver naloxone, new rigs, and fentanyl test strips (useful for heroin and methamphetamine testing and are available to talk through practical strategies with you to use more safely.
In response to this report, we call on city, county, state, and federal officials to invest heavily and long-term in community-based solutions and initiatives designed and led by people who use drugs. Syringe exchange, peer-distributed naloxone, safe consumption spaces, and low-barrier harm-reduction housing are all solutions people know work at reducing harms from the War on Drugs and failed drug policy.
2020 has challenged us, straining our public health systems, stretching already limited resources ever thinner. One preventable overdose death is tragic; an upward trend in these deaths is unacceptable. Southside Harm Reduction pledges to do everything we can to ensure our communities survive and thrive with the tools to reduce their risk and stay safe.
With love and in solidarity,
The Southside Team