We invite you to join us for our May 2021 virtual educational forum.

on the evening of Tuesday, May 18, 2021 at 7PM.

The opioid addiction and overdose death epidemics have caused over 500,000 deaths and untold suffering in the US since 1999. Our market-driven medical care system and Big Pharma played a large role in creating this crisis and continue to impede effective medical and public health responses to this worsening crisis. 

The Drug Policy Alliance (DPA) has been a national leader for decades in exposing the racialized War on Drugs and the resulting mass incarceration of overwhelmingly Black and other people of color. 

Our DPA speaker will discuss the strategy and growing success of the grassroots movement to end draconian drug laws in the U.S.  Medical cannabis programs continue to expand and a growing number of states, including NY and NJ, are legalizing adult use of cannabis.  Oregon recently became the first US state to decriminalize possession of small quantities of all drugs and to offer a public health approach to drug use. Other states will soon follow suit. 

Canadian colleagues will discuss how Canada’s single-payer, national health program has responded to Canada’s opioid problems by embracing humane and evidence-based harm reduction approaches.  

Canada’s approach to the use of drugs stands in stark contrast to the U.S:

• Canada is the second country in the world to make cannabis legal for both recreational and medicinal purposes. 
• Canada’s national health program funds harm reduction services such as sterile needles and syringes and community outreach programs
• More than 35 Drug Consumption Sites (also known as Supervised or Overdose Prevention Sites) are now operating vs. none (legally) in the U.S. 
• Injectable opioid agonist treatments (iOAT) including Heroin Assisted Treatment are available in Canada; not in the US
• Canadian prisons provide evidence-based medications for treatment of Opioid Use Disorder that are only rarely available in the U.S.   

Panelists will include a speaker who has been directly impacted by US prohibition policies and to barriers to treatment and a clinician who works with patients facing these challenges. 

DON’T LET NEW YORK CITY TAKE AWAY YOUR MEDICARE!

Click here for the statement that PNHP - NY Metro is issuing today denouncing this roll-back of access to affordable healthcare, hard won by the union movement. A campaign is developing to demand that the Mayor block this destructive move. If you'd like to help, or have questions, please email [email protected].

Visit the PNHP-NY Metro shop: www.bit.ly/m4amasks

Recent Online Educational Forums

CLICK HERE for videos and written information related to our:

• April 2021: Why Hospitals & the People They Serve Should Support Single Payer & the NY Health Act
• March 2021: Achieving Healthcare for All: The NY Health Act for a Just COVID Recovery
• February 2021: Invest In Our New York: Education, Housing, Food, Jobs, & Health
• January 2021: Unequal Treatment: The Unjust Death of Dr. Susan Moore
• November 2020: COVID-19, Long-Term Care, Single-Payer & the Elections
• June 2020:COVID Capitalism and the Fight for Health Care Justice and Societal Transformation
• May 2020: Combatting COVID & Building Resilience: Health, Jobs, & Homes
• April 2020: The Roles of Racism & For-Profit Healthcare in Pandemic Response Failures

Physicians for a National Health Program (PNHP) is a single-issue organization advocating a universal, comprehensive single-payer national health program. PNHP has 22,000 members and over 50 chapters across the United States.

Since 1987, we've advocated for reform in the U.S. health care system. We educate physicians and other health professionals about the benefits of a single-payer system--including fewer administrative costs and affording health insurance for the 30 million Americans who have none.