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Overdose Prevention Centers National Solidarity Week

A series of community-led events dedicated to building community and momentum around the national movement for overdose prevention centers (OPCs). In honor of International Overdose Awareness Day, National Solidarity Week events will be held August 25 – August 31, 2024 across the country.

OPCs are health care settings where people can bring and consume their own drugs, with trained staff available to intervene if an overdose occurs.

Sign our national petition demanding increased access to OPCs.

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Join an event in your state!

Visit the National Solidarity Week Merchandise Shop!

The overdose crisis is killing us.

Since 2000, 1.1 million people in the US have died of a preventable overdose, with nearly 110,000 lives lost to preventable overdoses in 2023 alone. Overdose death rates are so high that they have caused a decrease in overall life expectancy in the US. The crisis is most severe for historically marginalized and under-resourced communities; low income, unhoused, Black, Brown, and Indigenous people, and people living in rural settings are dying at disproportionate rates.

What are overdose prevention centers (OPCs)?

OPCs ARE HEALTH.

OPCs are health care settings designed to reduce the potential risks of drug use, including overdose deaths. At an OPC, people can bring and consume their own drugs in safe and hygienic spaces, with trained staff available to intervene if an overdose occurs.

OPCs ARE LOVE.

OPCs increase connection to stigma-free medical and mental healthcare, including drug treatment; life-sustaining resources such as food, showers, and laundry services; and, most importantly, community.

OPCs ARE SAFETY.

OPCs improve public health by reducing public drug use and drug-related litter, minimizing the spread of infectious diseases, and saving money by dramatically shrinking the burden on emergency response services.

The U.S. NEEDS MORE OPCs.

Today, nearly 200 OPCs operate around the world. Two sanctioned OPCs currently operate in the United States and a third OPC is scheduled to open in late 2024.

Have a question about OPCs?

Use this form to ask researchers based in the Brown University School of Public Health.

Who We Are

We are a community of people and organizations guided by a shared vision of a world that protects the health, safety, and dignity of people who use drugs. We are harm reductionists, health advocates, service providers, people who use drugs, people who live in communities harmed by the drug war, and people who have lost loved ones to overdose deaths. Together, we are fighting to put people over profit, save lives, and reduce harm for people who use drugs, including by opening, operating, and expanding overdose prevention centers.

Our Demands

  1. State and city leaders must respond to the overdose crisis with the outrage, urgency, and action demanded by a public health emergency.
  2. State and city leaders must use their authority to clear a legal pathway to authorize and expand overdose prevention centers, especially in areas with the highest rate of overdose.
  3. State leaders must use opioid settlement funds to sustain and expand essential harm reduction services, including overdose prevention centers.
  4. Policymakers must work to end, and never increase, the criminalization and punishment of people who use drugs.

Our Beliefs

  1. No one needs to die of an overdose: We have access to life-saving, evidence-based solutions. It’s time to use them.
  2. Public health crises demand public health solutions: When it comes to the safety and wellbeing of our communities, decision makers must implement health solutions guided by science, not stigma.
  3. Criminalization is the crisis: Criminalization is fueling the overdose crisis by driving an unstable, potent drug supply.
  4. Overdose deaths are a racial injustice: Disproportionate overdose death rates in Black, Latine, and Indigenous communities are a direct result of the racist drug war.
  5. All people are worthy of care: People are not more or less worthy of care because of the drugs they use, their access to housing, or their socioeconomic status.
  6. Overdose prevention centers benefit all community members: Overdose prevention centers bring health, safety, community, and love to our neighborhoods, and connect participants with the resources they need.
  7. People over profit: The health and safety of our communities always comes first.

The overdose crisis is a direct result of ongoing government failures, including the war on drugs.

Historically, the government has blamed Black and Brown communities for the “drug problem,” labeling drug use as a moral failing rather than a structural one. This rhetoric was designed to justify the policing, punishment, and incarceration of unprecedented numbers of predominantly Black and Brown people. We have spent $1 trillion dollars trying to arrest our way out of this problem, but criminalization only makes it harder for people to get help and access services. Imagine how one trillion dollars could have been spent towards effective solutions that center support, not criminalization.

The Benefits of OPCs

The Future of OPCs

The Overdose Crisis

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