Naloxone
Harm Reduction Resources Are Coming to All Insomniac Music Festivals
The nation’s preeminent electronic music festival organizer, Insomniac Events, has announced a partnership with End Overdose, an organization spreading awareness of the opioid crisis. End Overdose will now have a presence at all Insomniac festivals, according to the company’s CEO, Pasquale Rotella. The nonprofit will provide educational resources and safety supplies, including Narcan kits, to combat onsite opioid overdose. The kits can quickly reverse the effects of an opioid overdose by administering Naloxone, a synthetic drug that blocks opiate receptors in the nervous system. “Accidental deaths from opioids and fentanyl are happening in our schools, in our homes, at festivals & in our communities,” reads a statement issued by Rotella. “This is an issue ...
Free Narcan Kits to Be Distributed to New York Nightlife Establishments, Per New Legislation
It’s no secret that the opioid epidemic is worsening across the country. In New York City, where one resident dies of an overdose every three hours, the Department of Health and Mental Hygiene (DOHMH) has teamed up with the Mayor’s Office of Nightlife for groundbreaking new legislation: distributing free anti-overdose kits to nightlife establishments across the state’s five boroughs. The hope, legislators said in a press release, is to combat accidental overdoses caused by pills or powders laced with fentanyl, a substance the United States Drug Administration found fatal doses of in 42% of pills they tested in 2021. Narcan, an anti-overdose agent that rapidly reverses the effects of an overdose, will be in each kit they provide to community nightlife hubs. “The frank real...
Free Narcan Kits to Be Distributed to New York Nightlife Establishments, Per New Legislation
It’s no secret that the opioid epidemic is worsening across the country. In New York City, where one resident dies of an overdose every three hours, the Department of Health and Mental Hygiene (DOHMH) has teamed up with the Mayor’s Office of Nightlife for groundbreaking new legislation: distributing free anti-overdose kits to nightlife establishments across the state’s five boroughs. The hope, legislators said in a press release, is to combat accidental overdoses caused by pills or powders laced with fentanyl, a substance the United States Drug Administration found fatal doses of in 42% of pills they tested in 2021. Narcan, an anti-overdose agent that rapidly reverses the effects of an overdose, will be in each kit they provide to community nightlife hubs. “The frank real...
“We Are the Dork Side That Prevent People From Going to the Dark Side”: How Shambhala Is Pioneering Harm Reduction at Music Festivals
Between 1964 and 1975, an estimated 40,000 Americans crossed the border illegally into Canada, mostly to dodge the threat of being drafted to the military and the fear of combat in the Vietnam war. Some came due to the threat of imprisonment as President Nixon declared the “war on drugs” and addressed drug use as “public enemy #1.” A significant portion of these “draft dodgers” came to find a new home and Canadian diaspora in the Kootenay region of British Columbia and the central hub in the town of Nelson, per BC: An Untold History. The historic past and culture of challenging the definition of war and reducing harm is still very much alive in the Kootenay region. Shambhala Music Festival’s harm reduction culture and programs are a timely testament. EDM...
This Nonprofit Is Handing Out Free Narcan at Music Festivals to Combat Fentanyl Poisoning
LISTEN UP, a project launched by non-profit organization This Must Be The Place, is touring around the United States this summer to hand out free Narcan kits and combat opioid overdose. The Columbus, Ohio-based organization was started by Ingela Travers-Hayward and William Perry. Travers-Hayward is an Emmy Award-winning producer who formerly worked with MTV News Canada, and Perry is a reformed felon and victim of opioid addiction who served 10 years in prison after getting caught up in the opioid epidemic. Considering the importance of harm reduction in the dance music scene, the two formed TMBTP with the goal of “harnessing the arts to help in the fight against substance abuse and behavioral disorders.” This summer, Travers-Hayward and Perry want to hand ...
