Harm Reduction on Tour
Maddy, SRHN’s Overdose Prevention Manager, featured on Atmosphere’s Instagram account.
On Thursday, February 10th, we partnered with Beats Overdose and Rhymesayers, to support harm reduction strategies to concert goers at historic First Avenue. Thank you hometown heroes Atmosphere for partnering with our organization and others to make a difference!
At the event, Maddy, our Overdose Prevention Manager, distributed 52 Narcan kits and 125 fentanyl test strip kits. She was also featured on Beats Overdose, Rhymesayers, and Atmosphere’s social media accounts. We were lucky to be a part of this effort!
Partnership
Beats Overdose provides overdose prevention services to the music and entertainment industry and goes on tour with Atmosphere. Along the tour, Beats Overdose partners with local organizations to provide harm reduction strategies. Their important work helps increase the safety of concerts and connects community members to local resources they potentially didn’t know existed.
Rhymesayers, Atmosphere’s record label, supports Beats Overdose by offering them resources and the space to provide harm reduction on tour.
Music and Harm Reduction
Music festivals and concerts combine community and the joys of musical expression. Since the 60s and 70s, various genres have highlighted drug culture and promoted altered states of mind. In some circles, drugs and alcohol use are considered a significant part of the concert-going experience. The unique history and culture of music can create a tempting space for drug use or experimentation, making harm reduction strategies especially important at concerts and festivals.
Loss of a Legend
In 2015, synthetic opioids, primarily fentanyl, became the most common drug involved in overdose deaths. Synthetic opioids can increase the risk of an overdose because they are highly potent (about 50 times stronger than heroin). Additionally, synthetic opioids pose a substantial risk when laced into other street drugs like cocaine, heroin, and methamphetamine. Individuals accidentally encountering these potent opioids are often not equipped with a tolerance level or use strategies that could help protect them from an overdose.
As a colorless, odorless substance, fentanyl has also been increasingly pressed into pill format and sold as off-market medications. Famously, Prince passed away in 2016 from an accidental fentanyl overdose after unknowingly taking Vicodin laced with fentanyl. His death sent shockwaves through the Minnesota music community, and sparked conversations about safer substance use practices amid the rising risk of fentanyl contamination.
Harm reduction strategies, specifically having on-hand naloxone and fentanyl test strips, are becoming a vital resource for encouraging cautious and informed use.