NEWS ALERT: Carfentanil returns to Ohio — take precautions!
Dangerous drug concentrated in northeast Ohio (Akron-Youngstown) People who use cocaine, meth and pills need to treat them like an opioid Harm Reduction Ohio issued an immediate alert today warning people who use drugs to exercise extreme caution because ultra-potent...
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Ohio’s 2018 overdose deaths detailed: Who died where.
Scioto County has No. 1 overdose death rate Montgomery County falls to No. 7 Overdose deaths in Ohio fell to 3,758 in 2018, a drop of 22.6% from the state's record high of 4,854 in 2017, a Harm Reduction Ohio analysis of state mortality data found. Sixty-one Ohio...
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NEW: Preliminary overdose death toll for Ohio: 3,758 in 2018
Overdose deaths fall about 23% from 2017 How many people died of drug overdoses in 2018? We get asked that almost every day. The answer is about 3,800. The death toll for for 2018 is not final, but it's very close. A Harm Reduction Ohio analysis of the state's...
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Survey: How is medical marijuana working in Ohio?
Please take this consumer survey on Ohio’s medical marijuana program. Harm Reduction Ohio is conducting a survey on how Ohio’s new medical marijuana system is functioning from the consumer/patient perspective. Ohio residents who use (or want to use) marijuana for medical reasons are asked to take this confidential survey.
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An HRO intern walks into a bank…and finds legal marijuana.
What is the legal marijuana system like in Canada? Harm Reduction Ohio intern Christien Kelly accidentally found out. Kelly is a Toronto native and student at Denison University in Granville, Ohio. Read his report.
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The problem with marijuana in Ohio
Ohio’s heavily regulated and overly cumbersome medical marijuana regulatory system is ill-suited for legal marijuana (not to mention medical marijuana!). Here’s an explanation of why.
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Carfentanil unexpectedly returns to Ohio drug supply; overdose deaths surge
Carfentanil is back in Ohio and killing significant numbers of Ohioans again. The ultra-potent fentanyl analog was found in nearly 10% of illegal drugs in April, explaining the surge in overdose deaths in the last six months. Drug checking is needed immediately.
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Volunteers needed for statewide Narcan distribution effort
Harm Reduction Ohio needs your help. We are applying for an Ohio Department of Health grant to deliver Narcan to those most at risk of overdose death: people who use illegal drugs. If HRO gets the grant, we will need volunteers (and a few paid part-time workers) to reach these wonderful, unfairly stigmatized human beings in communities across Ohio.
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The myth of Ohio’s “drug use problem”
Ohioans use drugs at below average rates and have for many years. So why are overdose death rates the second highest in the country? Bad drug policies — not high drug use — are causing the overdose death epidemic.
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How much fentanyl will kill you?
A lot less than you think.
Be careful. Be very, very careful.
Art by Hannah Weatherington
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Dennis Cauchon
President, Harm Reduction Ohio
Dennis is the founder of Harm Reduction Ohio. He created the 501(c)3 non-profit organization to advocate for drug policies that reduce overdose death, imprisonment and other drug war harms.
He is a former national reporter at USA TODAY and Knight Journalism Fellow at the University of Michigan Medical School. During his 35-year journalism career, he won various awards, including the Champion of Justice award and H.L. Mencken Award for Investigative Journalism for work on the drug war.
“I believe all people, including drug users, should be treated peacefully and with respect,” he says.
Dennis is the father of two boys and lives in Granville, Ohio.