“The Times They Are a-Changin’”: Addressing Common Misconceptions About the Role of Safe Supply in North America’s Overdose Crisis

Excerpt: Dear Editor — We appreciate the authors’ commentaries (Carroll, 2020; del Pozo & Rawson, 2020; Lembke, 2020) engaging with our perspective article (Bonn et al., 2020) in the September 2020 issue of the Journal of Studies on Alcohol and Drugs on the potential roles for drug decriminalization and safe supply in response to the syndemic of HIV, hepatitis C, overdose, and COVID-19 among people who use drugs (PWUD). They have each raised some commonly expressed concerns regarding the relative benefits and risks of safe supply; however, considering the life-or-death importance of this topic, we feel it is necessary to address these arguments head-on.