COMMENTARY: A look at recent city council and county commission meetings is showing us that the opioid settlement funds are not always going where they should, writes Tasha Withrow.
https://t.co/xnsl8PijoH
This is how we are finding out that Kanawha Co Commission isn’t funding us. We got no chance to answer questions or plead our case in front of the commission. This was for overdose prevention/response kits - what opioid settlement money should be going to -
The @kanawhaus County Commission requested transparency from the WV First Foundation but provides none to us regarding our apps. Denial letters with no reasons listed and no chance to speak to the commission is not transparency. 1/2
We need some help! We either need funds for a hotel or funds to get camping supplies. We need to make sure we are there to provide our mayday kits and train folks on overdose response and naloxone use. Help us out!
In successfully lobbying to shut down syringe access in Charleston, people like the Akers, Charleston Mayor Amy Goodwin, and every lawmaker in the city/state who voted to legislate harm reduction programs out of existence are to blame for this crisis spreading to rural areas.
LEAK: While HIV was surging in Charleston, the city and county were more concerned with investigating do-gooders than they were with listening to the CDC. Here are docs showing how then-assistant prosecutor Maryclaire Akers investigated a DHHR employee interviewed for this story.
My comrade and co-founder of @projectmaydayx is currently incarcerated due to being unhoused. Police in @charlestoncity have cited him so many times for “trespassing” or existing outside that he is now in regional jail with a $1,000 cash only bond.
If you’re okay with bars, then you’re supportive of safe consumption sites.
If you’re okay with cannabis legalization, you’re supportive of safe supply.
The substance shouldn’t matter.
Harm reduction is harm reduction and all drug users should be treated equitably.
Gupta is the reason we are here now. He stood by and let them shut down the SSP in Charleston. And the legislators act like they support harm reduction but they don’t speak up for shit.