New Film: "Reach for Me: Fighting to End America's Drug Overdose Epidemic"

I posted on OPA recently with a preview cut, and I'm very happy to say that we've now launched the final version of our film Reach for Me: Fighting to End America's Drug Overdose Epidemic and our accompanying website. The film  looks at how naloxone pricing, production shortages, and the lack of government support are affecting overdose prevention efforts around the United States. 

We interviewed 30 people, including a number of regular OPA contributors, representing California, Colorado, Connecticut, DC, Louisiana, Michican, Minnesota, New York, North Carolina, Oregon, Wisconsin and more. In addition to the full length (but still just 15 min!) film, we're posting everyone's complete interviews, as well as, soon, a 3 minute version.  

The goal is to use the film as a platform for education and advocacy in order to push for universal access to opioid overdose prevention education and take-home naloxone for those who need it. To that end, over coming weeks on the website we'll be rolling out more advocacy tools and a petition aimed at U.S. federal funding. 

The film was produced by Sawbuck Productions, a Chicago-based nonprofit documentary film company that works on issues related to harm reduction, and which is headed up by Greg Scott & Erin Scott. Eliza Wheeler of HRC and the DOPE Project also contributed magnificently, and Nigel Brunsdon of the UK-based Injecting Advice and HIT did the website. The Open Society Foundations generously contributed to production and distribution costs.  

Help us spread the word further by liking our Facebook page (www.facebook.com/reach4me) and following us on Twitter (@reach4us). We especially want to build awareness outside the harm reduction community.  

For those of you in the U.S., if you'd like a copy on DVD, please follow this link. We'd also be happy to arrange local screenings and discussion -- please be in touch through the contact link on the reach4me.org site if you'd like to do so.

Preview Cut Now Available: "Reach for Me: Fighting to End the American Drug Overdose Epidemic"

Late last year we posted about seeking people to interview for a short documentary film about access to naloxone in the United States. The results are now available in a preview (aka not-quite-final-but-almost) cut of Reach for Me: Fighting to End the American Drug Overdose Epidemic.  Please have a look and tell us what you think! 

The film explores the interconnected issues of naloxone pricing and production shortages, public funding support (or more often lack thereof), and other factors affecting access to overdose prevention tools. It features interviews with leading experts and advocates from around the country, including California, Minnesota, New York, North Carolina, Oregon, Washington, DC, and Wisconsin. 


The point, for us, is to use Reach for Me as a platform for building awareness, understanding, and support for overdose prevention programs. To that end, over the next couple weeks we'll be rolling out the final version of the film, a short (c. 3 minute) version, along with a website and Facebook and Twitter pages. The film will be freely available on DVD (follow this link to request up to 20 copies) and online for streaming or download. We'll also be making available the full interviews with the nearly 30 people who participated. Stay tuned!

Elizabeth Owens of VOCAL New York
in a scene from Reach for Me

The film was directed by Greg Scott, and produced by Matt Curtis and Erin Scott, with an assist from Eliza Wheeler, and was produced under the aegis of Sawbuck Productions. We'd like to thank everyone involved, and especially the Open Society Foundations for their financial support and the Harm Reduction Coalition for allowing us to film during their excellent biennial conference. 

More OD videos - Cops, reentry, and Spanish OD training!

It seems like there are a bunch of good overdose advocacy and training videos coming out these days. 

Here's a new video from the San Francisco Police Department and Department of Public Health instructing police not to interfere with syringe access sites or naloxone distribution. (Nice narration Emalie Huriaux!)




And here's a new Spanish-language video from Boston about how to recognize overdose and respond properly. The video highlights the fact that those just released from prison or other lock-up facilities are at higher risk of OD, especially in those first two weeks.

And while we're at it, we realized that OPA didn't mention the great video, "Staying Alive on the Outside" from our friends in Rhode Island that came out a few months back. It's and English-language video that focuses on OD risk and response after prison release. 



We hope you find these useful in your work!

Coming to the Harm Reduction Conference? Help us Make a Movie About Naloxone Access

The biennial U.S. National Harm Reduction Conference takes place in Portland, Oregon this week, and a group of us have formed up to produce a short documentary film about how recent increases in the cost of naloxone and production shortages have impacted community-based overdose prevention projects. The film will be used in advocacy with the manufacturers and with local, state and federal agencies to improve access to naloxone. 

If you'll be in Portland and work on overdose prevention, we need your help.  Here's how DOPE Project's Eliza Wheeler describes it: