Acxel’s a big guy, probably 250 pounds, with a black cap, and camo pants. You might be surprised to see him teaching a crochet class in his Crocs with a baby Yoda on them. It’s a class where people who use drugs learn to make hats and scarves to wear on cold streets or give away to friends.

As a harm reduction worker, the care and dignity Acxel dispenses are as important as the overdose-reversing naloxone and sterile syringes he gives out. And he should know. When he was using drugs, compassionate caregivers at a harm reduction program helped him to stay safe as he made changes that led, step by step, to a healthier and stable life. Now Axcel is passing on that same care, joining thousands of harm reduction workers in communities across the country who are on the front lines of America’s overdose crisis.

We desperately need to support and expand these services. America’s overdose crisis is growing and now claims more than 107,000 deaths per year. It’s the nexus of a lot of failures: a failed mental health system, a racist and punitive response to drug use, and a dearth of health and social supports for people struggling with addiction, all of which can turn surmountable problems into life-or-death situations.

Part of that nexus, too, is a culture that marginalizes and shuns people who use drugs. Without adequate support and accessible effective systems of care, too many of us are left without resources to respond to the needs of loved ones in our families and communities. Our shame and silence further exacerbate the problem.

Acxel’s story shows how moving from stigma to love and acceptance can transform lives and communities. But how can we reshape a culture with such negative connotations about drug use and overdose? We can be inspired by history. In the 1980s, as HIV/AIDS ravaged two already stigmatized populations — gay men and people injecting drugs — prejudice inhibited progress.

To many, AIDS was something that happened to other people, people who engaged in “bad behaviors.” It felt more distant and less urgent for many, and government inaction reflected that sentiment. In response, activists mounted campaigns to challenge stigma, demand government action, change social norms and build the understanding that everyone is at risk.

The AIDS Quilt was among those campaigns, a tapestry of memories and loss to represent and personalize the destructive toll of the epidemic throughout the population. It crisscrossed the country — and eventually the world — creating a rallying point that helped galvanize communities, celebrities, and politicians to action.

The overdose crisis needs similar campaigns to build popular acceptance and momentum so that every person can have access to harm reduction, including naloxone to reverse overdoses, medications for opioid use disorder, overdose prevention centers, syringe access programs, and safer drug use supplies. Overdose has touched one in three American households. We believe memorializing the people lost to overdose is a powerful reminder that overdose happens everywhere, in every community and that harm reduction needs urgent support.

The first physical installation of a traveling Overdose Memorial will go on display at Newark Public Library for 10 days beginning Wednesday, Aug. 31.

Inspired by the vision of the AIDS Quilt, this International Overdose Awareness day, Vital Strategies is launching the first physical installation of a traveling Overdose Memorial, beginning in New Jersey, one of the country’s hardest-hit states.

Opening on Aug. 31, Overdose Awareness Day and running over the next 10 days at Newark Public Library, the Memorial will collect and share stories into a digital mosaic, naloxone trainings will be held, and the site will be a pulpit for survivors, activists and politicians to accelerate local support for harm reduction.

The memorial will travel to Michigan and Pennsylvania later this year, and add four more states in 2023. We hope to see the Overdose Memorial in statehouses, civic centers, malls and business parks—bringing the invisible crisis to light in the places we live, work and play.

We wish for a world where thousands more people like Acxel are supported, in every community, to provide compassion and care to people who use drugs. We need to invest in and celebrate community-based harm reduction services.

This Overdose Awareness Day is an opportunity to take a step toward that future and break down the barriers that stand in the way, including changing our culture.

One way is to honor the lives of those we have lost to overdose and use their stories to highlight that we are all at risk from a system that abandons people who use drugs instead of caring for them.

We can take action to support harm reduction: visit supportharmreduction.org and find a local center where you can donate or volunteer. Share a story of a loved one lost online or at the Newark Public Library in New Jersey, if you’re nearby. Together we can grow the movement of people who want to transform the United States from a society that punishes drug use to one that offers support with dignity, compassion, and care.

Stephen Hamill is vice president of policy advocacy and communication at Vital Strategies and supports the organization’s overdose prevention program.

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