DEA Heroin Signature Report, 2017: What it means for users
Black tar heroin much safer than powdered heroin. All heroin is not the same. Black tar heroin is almost never adulterated with fentanyl when smuggled into the United States. A newly released DEA report found that only one of 486 samples (0.2%) of black tar heroin...
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Ohio syringe programs: New, updated list with all locations and hours
Find a program near you! Ohio now has syringe programs in 20 counties and at 30 locations. See a complete list of locations, hours and contact information.
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VIDEO: Sam Snodgrass, PhD, “The Struggle for Survival: Opioids, Addiction, and the Brain”
Watch the keynote talk at Harm Reduction Ohio’s annual conference. This talk has helped many parents finally understand what was happening with their children who became addicted to heroin.
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HRO syringe program advocacy director Billy McCall sentenced to prison for addiction to heroin
Court imposes "consequences" for relapse after longest period of sobriety in his adult life Billy McCall, our beloved syringe program advocacy director, was in court in Newark, Ohio, this morning for having a "dirty" urine test last month. Billy, one of the smartest...
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Ohio overdose death toll falls to 3,764 in 2018
Overdose deaths fall about 22.5% from 2017 How many Ohioans died of drug overdoses in 2018? We get asked that question almost every day. The answer is about 3,764, down from 4,854 in 2017. That's a 22.5% decline. The age-adjusted rate of accidental overdose deaths was...
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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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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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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.