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On Aug. 27, Rochester city paramedics responded to a probable overdose at the corner of Clifford Avenue and North Street, where a man was slumped and unresponsive against the wall of a convenience store.
This call, routine for the paramedics and police officers who arrived on scene, underscored a message being delivered at the same time, just half a block away at International Plaza.
Recovery All Ways, a community-led nonprofit serving those impacted by substance abuse, held its 11th annual gathering for Scotty B. Overdose Awareness Day just a one-minute walk from where first responders succeeded in reversing the overdose.
The event, which featured statements by community members personally impacted by substance abuse, was meant to draw awareness to overdoses and community efforts to stem them through harm reduction. Speakers also touched on the stigma surrounding substance abuse and their own experiences walking the path from active addiction to recovery.
The event also included a remembrance space for those lost to overdoses, discussions on overdose prevention and naloxone education, harm-reduction resources, and over 40 community partner tables.
In Monroe County, RAW is part of a network of community-based organizations dedicated to promoting harm reduction and assisting those suffering from addiction with medical care, food, clothing, and referrals to shelter and possible drug recovery.
Harm reduction aims to mitigate the negative social, health, and economic impacts of substance abuse through peer-led support, education, and the distribution of supplies for overdose prevention and treatment, like Narcan or naloxone.
While harm reduction is a relatively new plank in the multifaceted effort to combat drug addiction and overdose, Stephanie Campbell, a speaker at the event who previously worked for the state’s Office of Addiction Services and Supports, said that it’s been an everyday part of life for active users long before mainstream elected officials began looking beyond criminalization to combat addiction.
“Thank God for the drug user community because they kept me alive.” says Campbell, who described her experience as an active drug user in New York City. “You know, society has an idea about us that we’re throwaways, just one more dead addict, right? One less person (they) have to take care of. And they don’t know that we have an infrastructure of a community of people who know where the good stuff is, what to stay away from. … I hate to break it to those of you who are new to the (harm reduction) field, but we’ve been doing this for a long time”.
Building on community-led efforts, local government officials have lent their support to raising awareness of harm-reduction efforts and the danger of opioid addiction. The city has funded the community-driven Neighborhood Ambassador Program, which recruits and trains neighborhood ambassadors in opioid crisis prevention, and distributes overdose reversal kits. Also, in June, several buildings in Rochester, including City Hall, were lit with purple lights for National Naloxone Awareness Day.
At the Scotty B. Overdose Awareness event, both Rochester City Council and the Monroe County Department of Health hosted tables, offering Narcan and information to event attendees. Miguel Meléndez, City Council president, was among those in attendance.
In 2024, the Monroe County medical examiner reported a 50% decline in overdose deaths, from 433 in 2023 to 216 a year later. The decline aligns with a national trend, which researchers and advocates credit, at least in part, to harm-reduction efforts and increased access to Narcan.
Despite these positive developments, speakers at the Aug. 27 event were quick to point out that improvement does not mean the problem is solved.
“It’s not about statistics alone,” said Josh Sheridan, RAW’s program director. “This is about whether a person survives long enough to make another choice, see another sunrise, speak to their family again, enter treatment if and when they are ready, or simply have one more day.”
On the drop in overdose fatalities in Monroe County, Sheridan stressed that the “decline matters. It means more people made it home. It means naloxone distribution, outreach, education, drug checking, treatment, peer support, and the everyday work of people who use drugs, protecting one another, are making a difference. We should recognize that progress, but we cannot allow progress to become complacency.”
As for next steps, Sheridan echoed calls from fellow harm-reduction advocates to build an overdose prevention center in Rochester’s North Clinton neighborhood. These centers, sometimes called “safe injection sites,” offer a controlled setting for the consumption of illicit substances (which are obtained off-site by users) under the supervision of trained staff.
Research from other countries with OPCs, cited by advocates like Sheridan, shows that these centers reduce public drug consumption and calls to first responders, and do not result in increased crime in surrounding areas. The same research suggests that a fatal overdose has never taken place at an OPC. However, it’s unknown if the centers reduce overdose deaths overall.
OPCs are a popular solution among harm-reduction advocates and have gained a foothold in some cities, like Providence, R.I., where Rochester City Councilmember Mary Lupien visited a center in September 2025 with several local advocates. However, they remain controversial among many, an issue advocates attribute to the stigma around drug users.
In February, Meléndez released his “Report on Homelessness, Putting People and Neighborhoods First.” The booklet, meant to examine solutions to homelessness and related issues in Rochester, did not address the possibility of opening an OPC in the city.
Meléndez did not respond to a request for comment from the Beacon, but in February he cited concerns raised by constituents as an impediment to opening an OPC.
Just before attendees held a moment of silence for those lost to overdoses in Monroe County and beyond to close the Aug. 27 event, Sheridan repeated his calls for the opening of an overdose prevention center.
“The first (harm-reduction) service is survival,” he said. “A person does not have to promise abstinence to deserve oxygen. They do not have to prove they are ready for treatment to deserve naloxone. They do not have to become a different person before we protect the life they live today. That is harm reduction.
“We meet people where they are, not where someone else thinks they should be,” he added. “We reduce the chance of death and illness, protect dignity, and keep the door open for whatever comes next.”
David Wazana is a Rochester Beacon contributing writer and a member of the Oasis Project’s second cohort.
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