After losing her son to a preventable overdose, Susan became an advocate for decriminalizing drugs for personal use. She saw how policies based in punishment made it harder for him to seek and access the help he desperately needed.
After seeing her son struggle and fail to get the help he needed for his addiction, Susan realized drug policies need to change.
Susan lost her son to an overdose. She knows the pain of losing a child – and knows that her son’s pain was only made worse by failed systems and drug policies.
"Nobody wants to accept that their child might be injecting drugs. Not allowing them to have access to what they need is not going to stop them.” Harm reduction recognizes people use drugs, offering the support and tools needed to keep people alive and have a chance at recovery.
Susan’s son wanted help for his addiction. But he faced barrier after barrier in his search - from the criminal legal system, insurance companies, and more.
Susan Ousterman lost her son Tyler to an accidental overdose of fentanyl and xylazine. Today, she advocates for a public health approach to drug use.
We all want people living with addiction to get the help they need. Forced “treatment” is rejected by scientific and health researchers for being ineffective or harmful. Substance use disorder treatment should be voluntary, effective, affordable, accessible, and appealing.
California is experiencing an unprecedented overdose crisis that can only be addressed through health-based solutions. Prop 36 is a false solution that would divert funding from treatment, homeless services, and other vital programs.
In order to successfully end the drug war and its associated harms, we have to follow the money to see who is benefiting from systematically punitive responses.
Policymakers must focus on implementing a thorough public health approach to drugs and real solutions to other pressing issues, not on the false promises of criminalizing drug possession.
Notifications