LISTEN UP, a project launched by non-profit organization This Must Be The Place, is touring around the United States this summer to hand out free Narcan kits and combat opioid overdose.
The Columbus, Ohio-based organization was started by Ingela Travers-Hayward and William Perry. Travers-Hayward is an Emmy Award-winning producer who formerly worked with MTV News Canada, and Perry is a reformed felon and victim of opioid addiction who served 10 years in prison after getting caught up in the opioid epidemic.
Considering the importance of harm reduction in the dance music scene, the two formed TMBTP with the goal of “harnessing the arts to help in the fight against substance abuse and behavioral disorders.”
This summer, Travers-Hayward and Perry want to hand out 10,000 kits containing potentially life-saving naloxone in areas where people may be susceptible to fentanyl poisoning, like music festivals. Through their LISTEN UP initiative, they’ve already handed out 5,100 Narcan kits at fests in Pittsburgh, Indianapolis, Tennessee and Cleveland, among others, according to Filter.
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LISTEN UP was started after its founders heard that fentanyl poisoning became the number-one cause of death for Americans between the ages of 18 to 45. The goal, they say, is to help spread awareness about the availability of drugs that reverse opioid overdoses.
TMBTP’s data shows that 40% of naloxone kit recipients have had someone in their close social circle experience an overdose.
Fentanyl is an extremely potent painkiller. 50-100 times stronger than morphine, it is typically used to treat patients after surgery. Fentanyl has sadly been rampant in recreational drugs and often leads to devastating consequences for unsuspecting music festival attendees. According to the National Institute on Drug Abuse, opioid deaths more than tripled from 2010 to 2020.
To learn more about TMBTP and donate to their efforts, visit their website.
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