My Overdose Will Not Be Tragic: Opening Reception

My Overdose Will Not Be Tragic is a gallery show of DIY posters, zines, and ephemera from the archive of Heather Edney + The Santa Cruz Needle Exchange.

Opening Reception - Thursday, July 7, 2022 | 5:30 - 7:30 PM

Curated by Greg Ellis, Director of Ward 5B Archives, My Overdose Will Not Be Tragic explores a body of work that provides important historical context for how harm reduction is practiced today; it also paints a portrait of young, grassroots organizers who tapped into a subcultural zeitgeist to compassionately care for people who use drugs in the name of public health.

As the fourth authorized syringe exchange program in the U.S., SCNEP was groundbreaking in its work with young injection drug users and sex workers. They spearheaded the first Hepatitis A & B vaccination campaign in the State of California, partnering with UCSF researching the practices of young people who inject drugs in and around the Haight Ashbury, Polk, Mission, SoMA, and Tenderloin neighborhoods of San Francisco. Run and organized by young women who used drugs, their revolutionary ideas and programs remain the bedrock of harm reduction today.