New App-Based Initiative Equipping Youth With Lifesaving Opioid Overdose Recognition, Response, and Prevention Tools Launches on International Harm Reducation Day

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Contact:

Gina Giorgio 

Director of Strategy and Development

Students for Sensible Drug Policy

gina@ssdp.org 

The new program—created by Students for Sensible Drug Policy (SSDP), the largest network of young people working to end the War on Drugs—provides free naloxone, fentanyl test strips, and other supplies to those who complete an hour-long self-paced course on harm reduction best practices. 

WASHINGTON, D.C. – May 7, 2025 – In celebration of International Harm Reduction Day, Students for Sensible Drug Policy (SSDP) has announced the official launch of its innovative HOPE (Harm Reduction Outreach, Prevention, and Education) app-based initiative. This new mobile application is designed to put life-saving opioid overdose recognition and response training—along with access to essential harm reduction supplies like naloxone—directly into the hands of students, young people, and concerned community members across the nation.

International Harm Reduction Day, observed annually on May 7th, highlights the importance of evidence-based, compassionate approaches to drug use that prioritize saving lives and protecting health. SSDP’s HOPE app-based initiative embodies this spirit by empowering individuals with the knowledge and tools to effectively identify and respond to an opioid overdose emergency, as well as to prevent opioid overdoses from occurring in the first place. 

HOPE responds to the opioid overdose epidemic by lowering the barriers to saving a life. It features a comprehensive, self-paced app-based training module focused on recognizing the signs of an opioid overdose, administering the life-saving medication naloxone, and strategies for preventing opioid overdoses, such as drug checking using fentanyl test strips

Upon successful completion of the completely self-paced training—which takes approximately one hour from start to finish—users are not only equipped with critical knowledge but can also use the app to order free HOPE Harm Reduction Kits. 

HOPE Harm Reduction Kits are designed not just for personal use but as a helpful tool to empower students, young people, and grassroots harm reductionists to educate their peers about opioid overdose recognition, response, and prevention, to actively distribute lifesaving harm reduction tools on campuses and in communities across the country, and as as a jumping off point to engage in the vital policy work necessary to help address the ongoing opioid overdose crisis. 

“SSDPers have always centered harm reduction at the core of our work, whether by distributing lifesaving tools like naloxone and drug checking equipment, such as fentanyl test strips, providing peer-to-peer drug education and opioid overdose response trainings,, or or by pushing for policies at the federal, state, local, and campus levels that are rooted in evidence, compassion, and human rights—policies that make sense,” said Kat Murti, Executive Director of SSDP. “The HOPE program builds upon all four pillars of SSDP’s core mission—drug education, harm reduction, drug policy, and campus change—by providing easy to understand information about reducing the harms associated with opioid use and tools to respond to opioid overdose, and by empowering anyone who receives a HOPE Harm Reduction Kit to educate their peers about harm reduction best practices and begin to identify and fight back against campus or community policies that are contributing to the overdose crisis.”

Those who receive HOPE Harm Reduction Kits will be able to report back on whether and where they were used or distributed, as well as any community, educational, or policy-related events they participated in using the kits, allowing SSDP to improve the program in a data-driven way. The educational flyers included in all HOPE Harm Reduction Kits are not only a easy to understand visual guide to opioid overdose response for use during an emergency but also encourage anyone who receives a HOPE Harm Reduction Kit to download the app, educate themselves on harm reduction best practices, and begin sharing HOPE Harm Reduction Kits with their own communities and spheres of influence. 

In addition to this helpful graphic on how to recognize and respond to opioid overdose with a QR code leading to the app-based training, each HOPE Harm Reduction Kit will include donated fentanyl test strips from Overdrive Defense, gloves from Black Mamba Gloves, and a dual-pack of RiVive™ 3mg nasal naloxone spray from Harm Reduction Therapeutics. SSDP is still looking for a partner who can provide CPR masks for the kits. 

“We’re proud to support Students for Sensible Drug Policy with a donation of Overdrive fentanyl test strips. This isn’t charity—it’s strategy. These strips, combined with SSDP’s new harm reduction program and training guides, will actually save lives,” said Amy Emmerich, General Manager of Overdrive Defense. “We’re here to help students defend themselves and their communities. Real tools, real training, real impact.” 

SSDP chapters and members nationwide have long been pioneers in grassroots harm reduction, distributing naloxone and educating their peers on campus and in their communities. In 2024 alone, SSDPers organized hundreds of overdose reversal trainings, distributed thousands of doses of naloxone, offered drug-checking services and kits, and fought to improve harm reduction services nationwide. The HOPE app-based initiative builds upon this vital legacy, providing education on best practices—such as the use of 3mg or 4mg naloxone instead of higher dosages and the implementation of rescue breathing—and empowering community members to spread awareness of harm reduction and save lives. 

“As drug overdose rates particularly among young people have increased at alarming levels in recent years, it is imperative that peers have the awareness, knowledge, and tools to respond to an opioid overdose,” said Karley Snyder, Chair of SSDP’s youth-led Board of Directors. “An overdose can happen to anyone, anywhere, regardless of age, so knowing the signs and symptoms of an overdose and how to properly respond is crucial to keeping our community safe. Harm reduction truly saves lives, and I am ecstatic that SSDP can lead the charge in bolstering education and overdose response.”

The HOPE app-based initiative serves as a vital resource hub, providing accessible, reliable information and reinforcing SSDP’s commitment to pragmatic, health-centered drug policies, and app users will be able to access other SSDP resources—such as Just Say Know, SSDP’s proprietary peer-to-peer drug education program—and become a member of SSDP. 

HOPE was developed by a network of SSDP harm reductionists through SSDP’s Drug Education Committee, which brings together seasoned professionals, passionate students, and people with lived experience to shape the future of drug education and harm reduction on campuses and in communities nationwide.

“Working on this project has felt like a harvesting of the powerful reputation and robust community SSDP has built through decades of drug policy work—a foundation of trust with young people and the capacity to respond to their questions about substance use with relevance and care,” said Lu Budzichowski, SSDP’s Drug Education Program Coordinator, who chairs the Drug Education Committee. “Through collaboration with our network of students and young adults, educational stakeholders, and industry professionals, HOPE and our upcoming Just Say Know courses are rooted in both the latest research and lived experience. Thank you to everyone who makes these programs possible, and to all those who will engage with them to become more informed and compassionate community members.”

HOPE also includes a module on the legal status of drug-checking equipment and state, federal, and campus policies that might impact grassroots harm reductionists work, which was developed in consultation with The Network for Public Health Law’s Harm Reduction Legal Project.

“Encouraging safer drug use practices on campus is a crucial intervention in preventing overdose deaths,” said Amy Lieberman, JD, Senior Attorney at the Harm Reduction Legal Project.

“As former chapter leaders, we are grateful to contribute our legal knowledge to SSDP’s HOPE as a way to give back to the organization that gave us so much,” said Ashleigh Dennis JD, Staff Attorney at the Harm Reduction Legal Project.

To complete the HOPE training and receive free HOPE Harm Reduction Kits, download the SSDP Connect app via the Google Play or Apple Store or go to www.ssdp.org/hope. 

With chapters on campuses and in communities across the country, Students for Sensible Drug Policy (SSDP) is the largest national youth-led network dedicated to ending the War on Drugs. Our national staff, Board of Directors, chapters, and alumni work together to replace the disastrous War on Drugs with policies rooted in evidence, compassion, and human rights, at a grassroots level.

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For more information, please visit: https://www.ssdp.org/hope