Happy Chinese New Year!

Happy Chinese New Year!

Along with that salutation, I wanted to write about a recent paper from New York City, The impact of COVID-19 on people who inject drugs in New York City. This was written by a friend of mine, Dr. Benjamin Eckhardt, along with his colleagues.

The results are as expected for those of us who do clinical work in the United States. Ben found that COVID-19 has negatively affected PWID. Placing dispensing machines of harm-reduction supplies in communities where PWID live and increasing secondary exchange, mobile services, and mail delivery of supplies may help maintain access to lifesaving supplies during big events, such as COVID-19.

The question I see is one of community organizing. How can we overcome the NIMBYism (Not in my backyard-ism) attitude of fear and stigma against people who use drugs? We need a general education campaign about the drug use and how harm reduction can help ameliorate the problem.

Finally, I recently learned about a concept called the “Zone of Personal Development,” introduced by psychologist Lev Vygotsky in the 1930s. Each of us, no matter how young or old, should focus on an area of learning that occurs when a person is assisted by a teacher or peer with a higher skill set. Regarding harm reduction, that could mean that everyday people could push themselves to have a better understanding of the social determinants of health. Then, they can become advocates for change.

A brief video, below, which also features Margo.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JAuWXGeMGBA

Thanks for reading! If you enjoyed this blog post, please feel free to leave a comment or share with others. And remember, my blog is always free.