With nearly 90,000 lives lost to overdose in the United States last year, moms across the country urged elected officials to expand access to overdose prevention and addiction treatment services amid the opioid crisis as Mother’s Day approaches in America. A pre-Mother’s Day press conference featured mothers who have lost family members to overdose, who are asking lawmakers to change their approach.
The mothers are asking lawmakers to stop the wave of harsh drug laws because they believe the answer to reducing overdose deaths is not filling prisons with those struggling with substance use disorder.
“I have spent the last 13 Mother’s Days missing a piece of my heart. My 16 year old son, Joshua, died of a heroin overdose on April 29th, 2012,” Tamara Olt, M.D., executive director of Broken No More, said. “I believe that taking a public health approach that seeks to support, not punish, people who use drugs is crucial to ending the overdose crisis. We must expand access to evidence-based strategies that are proven to save lives. This includes medications for opiate use disorder by making them more widely available, increasing harm, reduction and addiction services, distributing naloxone, and providing evidence-based drug education for young adults.”
Broken No More, an organization formed by families and friends of those suffering from a substance use disorder, was formed to “support and promote more enlightened drug policies that will reduce the stigma of drug use and keep other parents and family members from losing the one they love to overdose.” The organization’s goal is to respond to punitive policy proposals.
“I think that as long as we all continue voicing and speaking about what’s happened to our children, we can reach people. We can break the stigma and break the judgment with continuing on these stories,” Sarah Couper, PMHPN-BC, who lost her 19-year-old son, Maxwell, to an overdose, said.
The speakers at the press conference asked “lawmakers to stand firm against attempts to double down on the punitive policies of criminalization and prosecution as a response to the overdose crisis.” Instead, they want education and expanded access to overdose prevention and addiction treatment services to be offered in response to the epidemic in America.
“People are going to use drugs. That’s an undeniable truth. Instead of relying on fear-based tactics and rhetoric, we must prioritize education that empowers individuals and communities,” Cara Wykowski, who lost her 31-year-old son, Eric, to an overdose, said. “Laws often weaponize grieving families, seeking retribution only to further stigmatize those with chronic drug use.”
To learn more about Broken No More, click here.
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