“What’s insane is that the new normal in Pennsylvania is that year over year, the overdose death rate is increasing by 30 percent,” said Devin Reaves, executive director of the Pennsylvania Harm Reduction Coalition. “All solutions to save lives must be on the table.”
The city’s official statement takes the same tack. “History has proven that the way governments handled previous drug epidemics was wrong, and to repeat it will result in the same disasters,” the Mayor’s Office and Health Dept. wrote. “And just as local governments had to lead during the HIV epidemic, cities like ours will be on the forefront of saving lives in the opioid crisis.”
By Michaela Winberg
The Collected Works of Jim Garrow 