Drug advocacy was an all-hands-on-deck issue in the African-American community during the crack epidemic of the 1980s.
However, in the decades since, once-abundant drug treatment, resources and support services supporting addiction in the Black community have almost disappeared.
Aonya Kendrick Barnett is CEO of Safe Streets Wichita, Inc., a nonprofit focused on providing resources and support to address substance misuse and mental health issues in Wichita. The organization supports all communities, but she’s determined to keep a keen eye on the issues of Black, Brown and other groups whose substance abuse and mental health problems haven’t been given much attention in the past few decades.
After crack came the rise of meth, followed by the growth in opioid addiction in the mid-’90s. Opioid abuse was initially a relatively White addiction, with Whites getting hooked on prescribed opioids, while Blacks were often under-prescribed the drug.
However, with the growing availability of the synthetic opioid fentanyl, a street drug that doesn’t require a prescription, overdoses in Black communities have risen at a faster rate than in White communities.
In addition, still needing attention Barnett says, is the ongoing impact in the Black community from decades of the war on drugs. The result is a lot of people still caught up in the system of marijuana charges and entangled in the criminal justice system.
These are both problems Safe Streets is working to address.
New Drug Approach
Unlike the 1980s, when drug addiction was seen as a crime, the world is beginning to recognize addiction as a disease, something Black people said all along.
“What the Black community heard was arrest, stigma, shame, judgment and criminalization,” says Barnett. “Now that other communities are being impacted, there is a huge White gaze over it. So now it’s, ‘oh, let’s think about public health approaches to it.’”
Despite past treatment of the Black community, Barnett welcomes the change.
“We kind of have to bite that bullet, but then you have to forge forward and the door is open a little bit,” she says. “So while they’re talking about treatment, recovery, reparations, and repair, it’s important for us to be there so we can remind them these are the communities who have been most at risk,and most marginalized.
Safe Streets Programming
Instead of total abstinence from drug use, Safe Streets focuses on education and harm reduction.
“We don’t condemn or condone substance use, but we know people use substances, and so when you’re using those substances, you should be able to be an informed person and know that maybe your substance doesn’t have fentanyl in it,” says Barnett
Safe Streets started as a coalition in 2015 addressing gang violence but transitioned to overdose prevention during the pandemic. Last year, Barnett formally organized Safe Streets as a nonprofit. She serves as the organization’s part-time CEO and works with a small dedicated team of contract workers to handle the organization’s programming, including their very strong outreach efforts.
Workers for Safe Streets spend the majority of their time engaged in the community providing accurate information about the risks associated with substance misuse and promoting healthy lifestyle choices.
The organization has packaged and handed out more than 6,000 Personal Protection Equipment kits they hand out in the community. The PPE kit includes fentanyl test strips, naloxone, gloves, and CPR face shields. Safe Streets also hands out a kit that includes free condoms and the morning-after pill.
Safe Streets also advocates for policy changes on a local and state level. Last session, they supported passage of the Good Samaritan law, signed by Gov. Laura Kelly in May. The law protects civilians who help people they believe to be injured or otherwise in danger.
For the upcoming legislative session, they’ll work in support of expanding Medicaid, legalizing marijuana, and expanding treatment facilities for adults and youth.
In addition to those highly supported issues, this year they’re advocating for passage of a more controversial bill to legalize sterile needle exchange.
Safe Streets will also advocate for repair from the harm some individuals are experiencing as the result of certain drug charges. Depending on the charges, they’ll call for automatic expungements, restoration of some rights and other remediations.
In Good Hands
While Safe Streets may be a new organization to some members of the community, Barnett says the program has been around a long time, she’s experienced in the field and she’s done her research, including reaching out to some of the individuals who successfully led culturally focused drug programs in the past.
“I think for it [Safe Streets] to be in our hands and in our community is really amazing,” she says.
New Harm Reduction Lounge Supports Collaboration
Sarah Myers (Left), Social Impact Leader of ICT Tree huggers and Aonya Kendrick Barnett, CEO of Safe Streets Wichita are pictured at the Harm Reduction Lounge in Northeast Wichita. The shared space supports both organizations who are teaming up to tackle mental health, substance use and environmental challenges in Wichita. This newly established space serves as a gathering point for community members, organizers, and advocates to unite and collaboratively address these issues.
