According to pastor Ryan Cagle of Jubilee House, Transform Network, when it comes to those suffering from addiction, helping means meeting people where they are and giving them what they need to imagine a different world for themselves—and that can mean driving for miles to stock vending machines with free Narcan to help prevent overdose deaths. For Cagle, harm reduction also includes pushing back against the stigma of addiction, insisting that people deserve to live, regardless of whether or not you agree with their choices.
Eventually, policymakers recognized the crisis of addiction and death. In 2015 and 2016, Alabama passed new laws allowing naloxone to be prescribed and administered with immunity, and allowing the State Health Officer and county health officers the authority to write standing orders for dispensing naloxone. Much later, in 2023, the FDA approved Narcan for over the counter nonprescription use. In 2017, Alabama established its Opioid Overdose and Addiction Council, a multi-stakeholder entity that reframed the crisis as a public health issue and poured money into treatment and recovery resources. The council began pushing Narcan into the hands of law enforcement officers and successfully advocated for the legalization of fentanyl test strips, which can be used to test substances for the presence of fentanyl. Today, anyone in Alabama can request free naloxone and fentanyl test strips to be mailed to their homes.
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“They call it worm grunting.”
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“It occurred to me that the winner’s podium was a pretty good place from which to conduct a women’s movement.”
Don’t Bleed on the Artwork: Notes from the Afterlife
“The frame changes everything.”
