Breaking the Cycle: The Success of Harm Reduction Initiatives at UT
A team solutions story
U.S. drug-related deaths are on the rise. At The University of Texas, harm prevention groups are trying to bring these numbers down.
UT has several organizations committed to harm reduction; however, according to the Texas Health and Human Services Department’s Texas Survey of Substance Use Among College Students, 53% of students did not know if their school had a drug and alcohol abuse prevention program. Despite this, 87% of students supported offering free drug and alcohol counseling for students. Data from The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported 100,000 overdose deaths between May of 2020 to Apr. 2021, and numbers only continue to rise. Harm reduction organizations are working to prevent overdoses and counter Texas’ traditional approach to drug abuse.
Harm reduction is a set of practical strategies aimed at reducing consequences of drug use.
Critics of harm reduction argue that promoting the safe use of drugs encourages drug use instead of preventing it. They support drug abstinence programs. Programs like D.A.R.E. encourage abstaining from drugs and alcohol altogether, but don’t provide resources for those already engaging in substance use.
Harm reduction advocates argue the ineffectiveness of these programs because public school students in Texas have been exposed to drug abstinence programs, yet drug use on college campuses is still widespread.
The National Study on Drug Use and Health found that 37% of college students regularly used an illegal drug or abused alcohol and that college students make up one of the largest populations of drug abusers which puts them at a heightened risk of addiction.
Harm reduction remains a taboo subject in Texas, Public schools are mandated to teach drug and alcohol abstinence despite Texas high schoolers having a 17% lead on consuming alcohol compared to the national average, according to a study in 2019 by the Texans for Safe and Drug-Free Youth.
UT is working to increase awareness of organizations such as SHIFT, TxCOPE, and Students for Sensible Drug Policy. These groups are working to empower and inspire students to learn about harm reduction and practice it in their own lives.
SHIFT at the University of Texas
Claire Domenic-Smith
Kate Lower, Director of the SHIFT organization at UT, has worked to keep the campus community informed and prepared to make choices about drug use.
SHIFT, founded in 2019 by UT, employs what it calls modern, innovative solutions that avoid the traditional drug abstinence policies. SHIFT is not an acronym, but calls itself a “bold call to action.” Lower was a dance movement therapist in Chicago before working at SHIFT and said when the Director position at SHIFT was offered to her, it was a “put up or shut up” moment.
“We see substance use is really part of holistic health. We often separate mental health, physical health and then substance use, right? But substance use is a part of that,” she said.
SHIFT takes a holistic approach with harm reduction. Lower said they partner with anyone from the campus community including student organizations, professors, clubs and faculty groups. She believes the entire community plays a role in health and well being.
“I think if we're asking questions about how are you feeling? How's your mental health? How's your physical health?” she said, “We should also be asking, what does your substance use look like?”
A recent initiative at SHIFT involved a partnership with the Interfraternity Council for Roundup, an annual historical event at UT that tends to be higher risk with substance use. SHIFT visited every fraternity and sorority in preparation for Roundup to facilitate open conversations about harm reduction.
“We talked about what safer use might look like to talk about the ways they could feel empowered to have an event that was fun, but also prevents negative consequences,” she said.
SHIFT has also partnered with Sandbar, an alcohol-free bar in Austin, to create a program called Shift Makers, sending “zero-proof bartenders” to events to create a judgment-free alternative to drinking.
“It’s putting students at the forefront, and not only challenging students’ perceptions of what social events can look like, but also faculty and staff,” she said, “We have a lot of faculty events coming up that shift makers will be at.”
TxCOPE at The University of Texas
Kyle Ahern
Jake Samora knew Texas needed a culture shift when it comes to drug abuse.
Samora is a research associate for TXCope, an organization at UT working to improve systems used to track overdoses across the state. TXCope is a part of Project Connect, a project started by the Dell Medical School and the Steve Hicks School of Public Health. Samora is a student in the School of Social Work. He grew up in Texas and has seen the culture Texans have towards drugs first hand.
“The culture that we have here in Texas is one that chooses to ignore issues related to substance abuse,” Samora said. “Really, we’re trying to give [harm reduction advocates] a way to report overdoses they witness.”
TXCope has worked with multiple organizations to track overdoses to curate data needed to fund harm reduction efforts. Samora said the platform also tracks resource distribution. He hoped that this data would be used to show trends over time and prompt the state to provide funding to organizations working to reduce the harm drug overdoses can cause.
“We’re trying to give them a platform to make their lives easier,” Samora said.
Samora said that TXCope has always been a personal mission for him.
“Personally, substance use has been something that’s run in my family. I had a lot of uncles, great uncles who were alcoholics,” said Samora. “I had friends growing up who, at the dawn of the opioid epidemic, overdosed and lost their lives.”
TXCope has hopes of expanding. Samora said that they wanted to make their platform as accessible as possible in order to get it in the hands of the community . One of the organization’s hopes is that people who use drugs will log their own overdoses in order to make the data more accurate.
“You see the need here in Texas much more than in other places,” said Samora. “There isn’t a way to find good overdose metrics because our state is so vast and expansive.”
Drug Overdoses Shift Student Perspective
Celia Sampaio
Kira Wagner, a senior at UT, woke up on a summer morning in 2019 to news she never thought she would hear. The news of a close friend's death due to an accidental overdose sparked a change in her and the way she views drugs.
Wagner grew up in Houston and is double majoring in psychology and government. She began consistently using drugs in high school and continued the habit into college. She had, at times, engaged in the same class of drugs that caused her friend’s overdose. When she discussed the incident, she spoke frustratedly and with emphasis that she never wanted to experience anything like it again.
“After that I disassociated myself from people who continued to do drugs because I did not want to watch another one of my friends die,” she said.
Since the loss of her friend, Wagner has taken a safer approach to drug use, even stopping all drug use for a period after her friend's death. She pledged to surround herself with more responsible people and wants to educate those close to her about safe drug use.
Wagner acknowledged her own indifference towards drug education when she was in middle school. She said she wasn’t participating in any drugs and felt that the required drug education seminars were a waste of her time.
“A lot of students at UT think the same way I did in middle school, like this doesn't affect me, this doesn't matter,” she said.
Wagner said that UT is a big campus and the administration is not doing enough to educate their students about drug harm prevention. She wanted UT to do more and said the school should organize required seminars in classes where drug education and prevention is discussed.
“After losses that I’ve faced, it was really eye-opening that this could really affect anyone and anyone could get involved with drugs, accidentally or on purpose. And regardless, they deserve the help that could be provided by a campus as big as UT”
She said that she wants UT students to take drug education more seriously and said, “you look around these drug seminars and you want everyone to pay attention and have everyone wake up.”
Wagner made a promise to herself to educate those she cares about how to be safe around drugs and make any resources that UT provides known. She said she had experienced enough loss and wont let people in her life follow the same path as those she has lost before.
“Everyone thinks they're invincible, but really, it could happen to anyone.”
Students for Sensible Drug Policy at The University of Texas
Sharon Lobo
Jeremy Sharp, someone who has been affected by drug abuse and addiction, works with college campuses to help fight and change the stigma surrounding harm reduction. Sharp works as the outreach director for Students for Sensible Drug Policy, a national organization with various chapters including a UT chapter.
“Part of harm reduction is understanding that people are gonna use drugs no matter what, so we want it to be safe,” he said.
SSDP is an international, nonprofit organization that focuses on promoting civic engagement as a way to reform drug policy. The UT chapter has been especially involved in advocating for Naloxone access on campus.
Naloxone is a medication used to reverse the effects of opioid overdoses. While having access to Naloxone can prevent tragedies, Sharp said the drug alone is not enough. He said there is a disconnect when it comes to educating students and staff about the resources available to them.
“If people don't know about it, if it's not accessible, if there's not an effort to address these issues through a harm reduction scope, it’s definitely not gonna solve the problem,” he said.
Sharp said the first step to creating an environment receptive to harm reduction strategies is to inform as many people as possible. He said having difficult conversations can be intimidating but will create a system that opens up avenues for change.
“Be bold, don't be afraid to make mistakes. You have to arm yourself with the correct information and then you have to care,” he said.
Sharp encourages civic engagement because he said drug use, education, and policy all intersect and must be addressed individually to solve the larger problems.
Getting students involved in the political process of creating drug policy reform is what the university should be getting involved in, he said.
“Whenever these folks are out there and they tackle stigma and they take innovative approaches and sit there, organize and enact policy or get a statewide initiative going, even when they're just holding a space and like taking the time to talk with me and learn about this issue,” he said, “I'm proud because it’s something that is very real and affects the people around us.”