Detroit's east side sees high number of OD deaths, volunteers hand out Narcan kits
DETROIT (CBS DETROIT) – A Metro nonprofit is on a mission to lower the number of drug overdose deaths in Wayne County.
A team of volunteers went door-to-door on Detroit's east side, handing out potentially life-saving supplies.
Ash Daniels, lead organizer of the Michigan Liberation "Care Not Criminalization" Campaign, is charting a path that could prevent a person or their loved one from OD'ing.
"We don't care if you use drugs. What kind of drugs do you use? We just want people to stay alive and be safe while they choose to consume," Daniels said.
Michigan Liberation put together kits containing a box of fentanyl test strips, the water you need to use them, and a box of Narcan that can reverse an overdose.
"You know, we shouldn't have to go to Wayne State or in the suburbs to be able to get Narcan; we shouldn't have to, you know, go out to Macomb County or even get arrested because somebody uses drugs when the resources should be right here in our city, in our town, in our neighborhoods," Daniels said.
They're taking it upon themselves to hit the areas in Detroit with some of the highest overdose deaths in the state.
"I have a lot of people who have been substance users in my family, and so I also am very aware of the amount of people who pass from it," said volunteer Putice Daniels.
She joined the team who fanned out in the area of Mack and Bewick and Harper and Conner, helping to hand out 300 kits.
The reaction to their efforts was wide-ranging.
The canvass is in honor of one of the group's coworkers who initially had the idea to do this last year on this day but passed away because of an overdose.
"They're going to choose to do what they choose to do. However, you can make it a safer experience for them by providing them with things that will test for substances that are going to cause them or could cause them much more pain and cause their family much more pain rather than just say, 'Hey, make it a safe experience rather than keep it dangerous and keep it stigmatized,'" Putice Daniels said.
To learn more about the Care Not Criminalization campaign, visit: https://miliberation.org/who-we-are/