People can get free harm reduction resources at an event in west Louisville Tuesday, including paper test strips that can detect fentanyl in small batches of drugs and Naloxone, a medication that reverses overdoses.
The grassroots group VOCAL-KY and several other organizations, including the Kentucky Harm Reduction Coalition and the state’s Opioid Abatement Advisory Commission, are teaming up for the event.
VOCAL-KY director Shameka Parrish-Wright said it’s important to make life-saving tools like fentanyl test strips — which the Kentucky Legislature recently voted to decriminalize — freely available.
“Harm reduction saves lives,” she said. “And it is a form of public safety.”
Parrish-Wright said VOCAL-KY is committed to hosting events like this in west Louisville, especially because poor Black, brown and white people are disproportionately affected by the opioid epidemic.
“It's important that communities like the West End get a little extra touch of making sure that we're listening on the ground and hearing the people who are dealing with this,” she said.
Tuesday’s gathering will feature a solutions-based conversation that focuses on fentanyl, family and community.
The event runs from 5 p.m. to 8 p.m. at the Louisville Central Community Center at 1300 W. Muhammad Ali Blvd.
