Peer recovery coaches provide authenticity, credibility, and hope that medicine alone cannot. Dr. Lauren Grawert argues that threatened cuts to SOR and SAPT funding could dismantle an essential link between clinical care and real-life recovery.

Content Warning: This article discusses opioids, overdoses, and substance-related harms. Nitazenes are a highly potent class of synthetic opioids often mixed—unknown to users— into other drugs. They pose extreme overdose risk, can be difficult to detect on standard tests, and may require multiple naloxone doses. With commentary from Subject Matter Expert Arun Gupta, MD

John Makohen—author and counselor with lived experience—details why people who are unhoused face steep barriers to SUD treatment (IDs, phones, insurance, transportation,rigid abstinence-first rules) and calls for Housing First, person-centered MOUD, and compassion over compliance.

Brandi McCurdy, a critical care nurse practitioner and mother, shares her raw story of fighting a broken system, setting boundaries, and learning to love her daughter through addiction while prioritizing her own healing

Critics continue to question substance use harm reduction. Advocates persist in fighting for it. But the data is precise: harm reduction saves lives. As patterns of drug use shift and risks increase, strategies such as overdose prevention centers, fentanyl test strips, and naloxone access offer a proven path forward. This isn't theory; it's survival.