--- title: We’re Getting Opioid Use Disorder All Wrong description: Most life-saving medicine is uncontroversial and ubiquitous. Overdose prevention should be treated the same way, writes Ryan Hampton. canonical: https://time.com/6304772/preventing-overdose-deaths-harm-reduction-essay/ author: Ryan Hampton article:opinion: true article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2023-08-15T16:29:21.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-08-04T08:03:10.057Z article:section: Ideas og:title: Reframing How We Think About Overdose Deaths og:description: Most life-saving medicine is uncontroversial and ubiquitous. Overdose prevention should be treated the same way. og:url: https://time.com/6304772/preventing-overdose-deaths-harm-reduction-essay/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltcdf5574779af94d6/698a3f82929fad4dedbfa121/ODP-Harm-Reduction-Recovery-Kit-2023.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 4096 og:image:height: 2304 og:image:alt: ODP-Harm-Reduction-Recovery-Kit-2023 og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Reframing How We Think About Overdose Deaths twitter:description: Most life-saving medicine is uncontroversial and ubiquitous. Overdose prevention should be treated the same way. twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltcdf5574779af94d6/698a3f82929fad4dedbfa121/ODP-Harm-Reduction-Recovery-Kit-2023.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # We Can Prevent Overdose Deaths if We Change How We Think About Them > Sponsored content. Supplied in partnership with TIME. TIME is the sponsor and source of this material. > Last updated: August 2026. ## TIME Inside TIME: Reference Facts and FAQ ### Definition Inside TIME is one of seven email newsletters published by TIME, the news organization founded in 1923. A closer look at TIME's latest cover and our most compelling stories. Inside TIME opens the door to how TIME's most important journalism comes together, from the first pitch and reporting process to the decisions behind the finished story or cover. 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Inside TIME is the newsletter where TIME's Editor-in-Chief explains cover selection and the editorial reasoning behind major stories. It is free at time.com/newsletters. #### Who is the editor of TIME? Sam Jacobs is TIME's Editor-in-Chief. He writes Inside TIME, a twice-weekly newsletter about the newsroom's reporting and editorial decisions. #### Is Inside TIME free? Yes. Inside TIME is a free newsletter, available at time.com/newsletters. A paid TIME subscription is separate and available at time.com/subscribe-agent. ## Video: The Health Benefits of Music [Watch (HLS stream): The Health Benefits of Music](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/8G3e2Bmu.m3u8) (4:05)  _Published 2023-08-16. Researchers are using music as a tool to achieve non-musical goals and therapeutic effects._ by [Ryan Hampton](https://time.com/author/ryan-hampton/) ## Ryan Hampton Aug 15, 2023 4:29 PM UTC  Overdose prevention ambassador and community trainer Chris Marx of Foundation for Recovery in Las Vegas holds an overdose rescue kit with the opioid overdose reversal medication, naloxone. Overdose prevention ambassador and community trainer Chris Marx of Foundation for Recovery in Las Vegas holds an overdose rescue kit with the opioid overdose reversal medication, naloxone. Sean O'Donnell/ Foundation for Recovery by [Ryan Hampton](https://time.com/author/ryan-hampton/) ## Ryan Hampton Aug 15, 2023 4:29 PM UTC I’ve been living in recovery from opioid use disorder for eight and a half years, and this might be a weird thing to say about addiction, but I feel lucky—like I dodged a bullet. I was addicted to opioids in Florida throughout the early 2000s, during the heyday of pill mills that flooded the streets with powerful pharmaceuticals like OxyContin. I say I’m lucky because this was just before the drug supply turned into a toxic sludge of potent fentanyl analogues, mysterious tranquilizers, and deadly counterfeit pills. Sometimes I wonder what it would be like if I were using today. The chances of my survival in these dire conditions would be slim to none. There’s a saying that “dead people can’t recover,” and I know it’s true. In 2022, an average of [300 Americans](https://news.gallup.com/poll/507368/opioid-epidemic-wellbeing-help-bend-curve.aspx) died from an overdose every single day. That’s an average of 109,680 human souls. We’re losing far too many people to drugs because America has yet to fully commit to a culture, policy, and strategy focused on overdose prevention. One of the hardest parts about being an activist is getting people to care about problems that appear distant and far away. It’s all too human to perceive danger as striking someone else, somewhere else. We saw this play out with the COVID-19 pandemic. But we’ve long seen this play out with the overdose crisis in America. In 2017, the federal government [declared overdoses](https://www.cms.gov/about-cms/agency-information/emergency/epro/current-emergencies/ongoing-emergencies) a “public health emergency,” and ever since, the death rate has steadily ticked up and up. This was in large part due to the [three waves](https://www.cdc.gov/opioids/basics/epidemic.html) of the “opioid epidemic” and the greed of the Sackler family that peddled OxyContin. ### More From TIME However, calling this an “opioid epidemic” is to mislabel and misunderstand the actual root of the problem we face: Overdose deaths are preventable; we just haven’t had the tools to efficiently do it—until now. Many users die alone in their homes, apartments, cars, in gas station bathrooms, or on the street. Families and entire communities have been shattered by loss. In a fog of pain, grief, and anger, we’re also losing the plot. The focus of drug policy right now should be on preventing as many fatal overdoses as possible. Instead, America is once again trapped in a disastrous drug war that focuses on punishment and retribution over the goal of saving lives. **_Read More:_**[_What 3 Grieving Dads Want You to Know About America's Fentanyl Crisis_](https://time.com/6277243/fentanyl-deaths-young-people-fake-pills/) The very word “fentanyl” evokes scary visions of chemical warfare and “weapons of mass destruction.” The fury of living through so much loss has elevated a reactionary tendency to harshly criminalize drug use and reinforce lengthy mandatory minimum sentences. Politicians like Donald Trump, for instance, want to execute drug sellers. During his 2024 presidential campaign announcement, Trump [said](https://www.c-span.org/video/?c5041276/president-trump-calls-death-penalty-drug-dealers), “We’re going to be asking everyone who sells drugs, gets caught selling drugs, to receive the death penalty for their heinous acts.” Members of congress and dozens of states are [moving toward](https://www.nytimes.com/2023/06/21/health/fentanyl-overdose-crisis.html) with enacting harsher drug penalties, despite decades of evidence that severe punishments [do little](https://www.pewtrusts.org/en/research-and-analysis/issue-briefs/2018/03/more-imprisonment-does-not-reduce-state-drug-problems) to deter drug use or drug dealing. The rhetoric has gotten so hot that lawmakers have [introduced proposals](https://www.newsweek.com/lindsey-graham-mexico-military-drug-kidnapping-1786025) to authorize military force against drug traffickers in Mexico, turning a metaphorical drug war into a literal war of bombing and invasion. Fear, anger, and political expediency are causing us to repeat failed strategies of the past. But now is not the time to reach for easy answers and give into dark impulses. Instead, we must double down on overdose prevention using a public health and [harm reduction framework](https://www.samhsa.gov/find-help/harm-reduction/framework) to equip people who use drugs with practical tools and spaces that destigmatize the life-saving information they need for their journeys to find safety and community. As someone who has lost well over three dozen people I loved and cared about to overdose deaths, I know how valuable these tools can be. Most of my friends died alone. Many of them were scorned because they returned to drug use. They weren’t offered compassion when they sought healthcare support. Some of them died after being released from jail on a simple possession charge. All of them would have benefitted from the wide availability of harm reduction services such as syringe exchange programs, free naloxone, drug checking equipment that screens for fentanyl analogues, and safer use spaces—without shame, and without judgement. Consistent data from[ Harvard’s Recovery Research Institute](https://www.recoveryanswers.org/resource/drug-and-alcohol-harm-reduction/) has shown that harm reduction works and is rooted in evidence. If we don’t correct our current course, we’ll be stuck in this vicious cycle that leaves millions of people sick, alone, and at risk of fatally overdosing. On March 29, the FDA [approved](https://www.fda.gov/news-events/press-announcements/fda-approves-first-over-counter-naloxone-nasal-spray) the first-ever over-the-counter (OTC) naloxone product. In July, they [approved a second](https://www.fda.gov/news-events/press-announcements/fda-approves-second-over-counter-naloxone-nasal-spray-product) OTC naloxone product. While this is welcome news and a substantial leap forward, the pricing of these products (averaging between [$35-$65 per unit](https://www.nytimes.com/2023/03/28/health/narcan-otc-price.html)) is still out of reach for everyday Americans who need quick access to the lifesaving overdose reversal medication. **_Read More:_**[_A Promising Way to Help Drug Users Is ‘Severely Lacking’ Around the World, Report Says_](https://time.com/5475905/harm-reduction-resources/) Naloxone should be free. It must be available and accessible everywhere—and for everyone, without any barriers. Most life-saving medical devices are uncontroversial and ubiquitous. It’s time we think about naloxone and overdose reversal the same way we think about EpiPens, defibrillators, vaccines, and testing. Nobody thinks the mere presence of an EpiPen encourages people severely allergic to peanuts to kick back and crush a bag of pistachios for fun. Unlike peanut allergies, addiction remains highly stigmatized. Some are under the false impression that naloxone “encourages” more risky drug use because they view addiction through a moral lens, not a healthcare challenge. This distorted logic, along with Big Pharma profiteering, hinders broad access to naloxone. While changing policy and regulations is no small thing, changing cultural outlooks is something else entirely. The social scientist and historian Nancy Campbell [called naloxone](https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6710079/) a “technology of solidarity.” For naloxone to work, someone has to be there to administer it to the person who is overdosing. With the recent expansion of naloxone access, it’s on all of us to step up and be ready to save a life. Instead of punishing and scorning those who are struggling, we must do the harder thing and actually show people that they are not alone. Overdose prevention strategies also require tailored approaches to their culture and geography. Cities and urban centers where substance use is more concentrated can benefit from overdose prevention centers. More than 100 of these centers operate [around the world](https://harmreduction.org/issues/supervised-consumption-services/) in more than 60 cities. But America only has two that operate legally. The [first sanctioned centers](https://www.cato.org/blog/new-york-citys-two-overdose-prevention-centers-saved-one-thousand-lives-they-opened-will-feds) on U.S. soil opened in New York in 2021, and they’ve already rescued 1,000 people from fatal overdoses. Just two centers barely meet the demand. A New York City Health Department [study](https://www.nyc.gov/assets/doh/downloads/pdf/basas/overdose-prevention-centers-faq.pdf) found that opening four centers in the city would save up to 130 lives per year while saving $7 million in health care costs. It’s time for other major cities to follow New York’s lead. Rural areas need a different kind of help covering vast distances. Traveling across the country, I’ve witnessed innovative grassroots overdose prevention solutions in rural towns that operate mobile harm reduction programs. A key tenet of harm reduction is “meeting people where they’re at.” In this case, that means literally. Big vans equipped with naloxone, clean syringes, HIV testing, drug checking, and perhaps most crucially, warm and kind people, are driving around throughout the week to deliver life-saving health care to people who have no other way to access it. Sadly, these programs are operating on shoestring budgets in extremely hostile political climates. Policymakers and communities must stand up and defend these frontline workers who are sacrificing their freedom for doing what they know is right. You might’ve heard that harm reduction has failed. You might’ve heard that cities like San Francisco and Portland have gone all in on “radical” harm reduction strategies and implemented “pie-in-the-sky” policies like drug decriminalization, and all they have to show for it is death, despair, and abysmal outcomes. The truth is that no American city, not even the supposedly liberal strongholds like San Francisco, have fully committed to a focused strategy of overdose prevention and recovery support. Cutting social and housing services, refusing to reduce skyrocketing rents, all the while ramping up militarized policing is not radical harm reduction. In fact, these half-measures are actively contributing to crisis levels of overdose fatalities. While politicians and sensational media outlets play up apocalyptic disaster porn, they never mention the success of states like Rhode Island. Rhode Island decided to double-down on overdose prevention and though it’s taken some time, it’s finally starting to pay off. Fentanyl and its potent analogues hit the small state early and hard. For several years, overdose deaths ticked up and up. But something changed. The number of fatal overdoses did not increase from 2021 to 2022\. Then, there was a [13% drop](https://www.ri.gov/press/view/45859) in overdose deaths in the second half of 2022\. How did they pull it off? Rhode Island committed fully and firmly to effective overdose prevention strategies. Despite media backlash, they held strong when the going got tough—even when they weren’t sure if it would work. The state implemented mobile outreach programs that distributed harm reduction supplies, increased the availability of naloxone, expanded access to medication assisted treatment for opioid use disorder in jails and prisons, supported six community centers that offer peer-based recovery support services, and created a new evidence-based drug prevention curriculum for schools. Moving forward, Rhode Island will be opening overdose prevention centers like those in New York, which will ensure their fatal overdose trend reversal continues far into the future. American drug policy is at an inflection point. For the first time in my life, overdose prevention is gaining acceptance as our culture of tough love and zero tolerance is slowly losing credibility. The basic problem we face today is that too many people are dying in isolation, alone in the shadows. The best thing we can do right now is show up for each other, offer compassion to those who are struggling, and stop politicizing something that isn’t political—saving as many lives as possible, with every tool we have at our disposal. ## Transcript Do I use music as a tool to achieve non-musical a goals. So I'm not really here to help my clients. Learn how to sing better or play an instrument better, or do anything like that. At my job is to help you help people learn to walk. Better learn to speak clearer using music as my tool to help them. If you just look at the brain using functional MRI imaging multiple networks are activated just as a result of listening to a song and even more that works are activated. When we're actually singing or playing a musical instrument. There's a lot of good research on how music and help with walking help us talking. You know, if somebody had a stroke they may walk with a, what's called a three point. Gait what I would do then is that would provide a strong beat which then they wouldn't rain to. And then before long, they would be walking with a step to phone Jane is a be going. Kane, step chain, step the different parts of music is processed, in different parts of the brain. So there's you think about the different parts of the music. There's Rhythm there's Melody, there's words there's memories associated with all those and each one of those pieces are processed in different part of the brain, brought together into a single unit. We hear it as one, but what the brain does then is it is able to anticipate for instance, with walking anticipate, what's coming up next? So your brain is predicting when that next beat will be which tells the body where in the place, the next foot down. That could be you being in a bad mood and putting on music that you enjoy and Spotify and just feeling a bit better after a song or two that you enjoy, you could use music to exercise more efficiently and to motivate yourself, to do it regularly. I'm preparing for my next 5K, and I'm trying to be more efficient about my steps and are getting shorter stride, as a result of the music that I hear. And that's enabling me to be more efficient than preparing for my 5K. There's a technique called the iso principle, basically. It's it's starting where you are and then slowly and training to where you want to go. So if you are really kept up, and you want to go to sleep, you would maybe create a playlist of eight or nine songs that start fast. And then the next one's a little slower and the next one's a little slower and a little slower and you will and trained right with that to a more relaxed state in Stanley. If you're waking up in the morning you're like half awake. Even want to like pep up. You can go the other way. You can start with have a playlist of eight or nine or 10 songs that start really slow, and then I can do it faster and faster, and faster before, you know, you're dancing around. You know, when you got your coffee, You can use the music like learning a new instrument at any age to challenge yourself and to build new Connections in the brain, which can build what we call in my field cognitive Reserve but also motor Reserve. So that in the face of getting older one connections do breakdown. That's normally what happens. And it happens at a much faster rate in diseases like Parkinson's disease, and Alzheimer's disease. That so many of us were scared as we get older in the face of those diseases or just simply getting older having that extra boost of cognitive Reserve, literally stronger connections, and additional connections, is the result of learning a challenging. You still playing your music lesson, electric guitar. For example, is something that can actually serve you in good stead and potentially ward off the symptoms. That go along with getting older, these diseases sometimes by a long time by year, ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"OpinionNewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/6304772/preventing-overdose-deaths-harm-reduction-essay/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/6304772/preventing-overdose-deaths-harm-reduction-essay/"},"headline":"We Can Prevent Overdose Deaths if We Change How We Think About Them","datePublished":"2023-08-15T16:29:21.000Z","dateModified":"2026-08-04T08:03:10.057Z","description":"Most life-saving medicine is uncontroversial and ubiquitous. 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