(New Policy Brief) Beyond Fentanyl Test Strips: The Need to Decriminalize All Drug Checking Equipment in Tennessee

KEY POINTS In 2022, Tennessee decriminalized fentanyl test strips (FTS) through Public Chapter 764. Thousands have since been distributed by the state and nonprofit coalitions as a key harm reduction strategy. As of the end of 2023, 44 other states and D.C. had also decriminalized FTS. Research indicates that people

“Has fentanyl peaked?” is the wrong question.

On May 21, the New York Times published an article titled “Has Fentanyl Peaked?” The premise is that the “opioid crisis…may finally be turning around” based on the fact that preliminary data from the CDC shows that drug overdose deaths slightly declined in 2023, now down to 107,543 estimated deaths

(Podcast) Nashville’s Overdose Co-Response Unit Brings Harm Reduction to Law Enforcement

Click here to listen on Spotify As the drug overdose deaths continue to climb, we have heard more and more Sheriffs and law enforcement officers across the state say “we can’t arrest ourselves out of this problem.” That the criminal justice system plays an important role, but not the only

(Podcast) Decoding Autopsies: What Medical Examiners See That Others Miss

Click here to listen on Spotify When the CDC reports that almost 4,000 Tennesseans died of a drug overdose in 2023, it can be easy to forget that each one of those numbers represents a human being that was found deceased, investigated by law enforcement, and analyzed by a medical

(Podcast) Training and Empowering Musicians to Prevent Overdose

TEMPO, or Training and Empowering Musicians to Prevent Overdoses, is a multi-coalition and nonprofit program to distribute naloxone and train musicians and concert venue workers to identify and prevent opioid overdoses. TEMPO has recently made waves in Nashville with a pilot program in partnership with Hikma, who makes Kloxxado, as

(Podcast) How Peer Recovery Patches Treatment Gaps

If you’ve been listening to this podcast for a while, you know that there is strong evidence for the effectiveness of addiction treatment, and that the biggest obstacle we face in combating the overdose crisis is an overall lack of access to that treatment. Health insurance is of course a

New Policy Brief: The Need for Point-of-Care Testing of All Illicit Substances

A drug test cup.

KEY POINTS An estimated 107,477 overdose deaths occurred in the United States within the last year, with about 4,000 of those deaths being Tennesseans. Over 80 percent of these deaths are attributable to opioids such as fentanyl, for which there does not exist tests approved by the Food and Drug

Guest column: Harm reduction is key to recovery, preventing overdose deaths

A syringe wrapped in sterile packaging.

Read the full article at Knox News. More recovery centers have opened, telehealth use has exploded, drug courts and treatment-oriented incarceration alternatives continue to proliferate, and Narcan is more available than ever before. But overdose deaths continue to climb, and are now in fact the leading cause of death for

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