This overdose prevention newsletter from 1999 is still relevant

Opioid addiction is an intractable problem that has forced its way into the lives of families across the country.

The epidemic is spreading at frightening rates in Pennsylvania, as it has been over the past decade. And while new technologies and methodologies are making it easier to fight addiction, it’s worth looking at some of the more recent history of opioid addiction.

The Fall 1999 issue of Harm Reduction Coalition‘s newsletter, devoted to the subject of overdose prevention, is a great example of how far we’ve come and yet how much has stayed the same.

Philadelphia Horticultural Society garden assistant Paul Cherashore, who was working for the New York-based advocacy organization at the time, headed up the newsletter.

“The details may be out of date,” wrote Cherashore in an email. “But it’s amazing how many of the issues we raised back then are still current.”

The document has an entire section dedicated to understanding Naloxone, the life-saving overdose drug that is still not quite as accessible in Philadelphia as many would like — possibly due to inflated prices.

“Plus ça change,” said Cherashore. “But maybe there’s light at the end of the tunnel.”

Let’s hope.