Harm reduction is categorised as supplies, assistance or training provided free of charge to the community and designed to minimise the physical and social effects of drug use. It results in fewer overdoses, higher recovery rates, slows the spread of disease and infection, and lowers the rate of crime.

The idea that making life ‘easier’ for addicts encourages drug use is a popular argument used by governments who have no interest in allocating funds toward fixing the opioid crisis they helped create. Unfortunately it is easier and more lucrative to turn a blind eye and perpetuate the stigma that all drug users are beyond help. Society has been taught to look down on addicts and deprive them of public services and basic dignity—this isn’t done to ‘teach them a lesson’, it is done to make them disappear.

Sarah’s tireless advocacy to harm reduction extends to colleges and schools where she is passionate that harm reduction should be included in the curriculum in the same manner as sex education. She receives harsh pushback for these efforts, even as curious teens as young as 14 are dying in classrooms and school halls. It’s a confronting reminder that drug users are deemed worthless regardless of age or circumstance.