Texas Harm Reduction Alliance

The group states that its drop-in center in Austin sees 40 to 70 drop-ins per day. The group operates several outreach and re-entry programs, as well as harm reduction training for other groups. The group also spurred the creation of an advocacy and lobbying group called VOCAL-TX modeled after similar groups in other states that focus on similar issues from a public policy and community organizing standpoint. ^{2 3}

Background

The Texas Harm Reduction Alliance was formed in 2019 to promote “harm reduction” for drug users in Austin, noting on its website that “THRA is a resource for all community sectors and organizations seeking evidence-informed pathways to improvement of conditions and outcomes related to drug use and related activity” and further stating that the group focuses on direct services for people impacted by substance use, overdoses, HIV, hepatitis, and sex work. The group’s programs include giveaways of drug paraphernalia such as syringes and the provision of overdose-reversal medications like Narcan. ¹

The group states a commitment to “end[ing] the War on Drugs and its harms with nonjudgmental and radical harm reduction services, advocacy, education and training.” ¹

The group embraces diversity, equity, and inclusion ideology on its website, stating, “We believe and value people who have been left out of the system such as two-spirit and lgbtq+ communities, BIPOC, immigrants, sex workers, people with disabilities, etc.” ¹

Organizing and Advocacy

The Texas Harm Reduction Alliance operated the THRA Organizing Project as the group’s advocacy and community organizing arm that focused on promoting left-of-center economic and social policies. Campaigns that the THRA’s organizing project operated included a campaign to provide free bus fare to homeless people in Austin and lobbying for the City of Austin and Travis County to declare an “overdose crisis public health emergency” with increased funding for harm reduction, including increased naloxone access, harm reduction outreach workers, and a community awareness campaign. ⁴

The THRA Organizing Project spun off into a separate organization called VOCAL-Texas modeled after similar VOCAL groups in other states, including VOCAL-NY, or Voices of Community Activists and Leaders, a left-of-center to far-left New York City advocacy group. ⁵

The THRA also operated a campaign that funded research within the Austin homeless population to “identify alternatives to arrest, incarceration and confinement for unhoused people who use drugs” and a campaign called #MathadoneNow to promote the use of methadone after the group was told it could not distribute Methadone. ⁶

Criticism

In 2023, the Texas Harm Reduction Alliance faced an eviction notice from its landlord because some of the supplies the group distributes were considered drug paraphernalia and illegal to distribute in Texas. Local officials negotiated the ability for the group to stay at its location in a more limited capacity while noting that “without the state legalizing harm reduction tools, the THRA says it will continue to be at legal risk — putting its clients at risk too.” ²