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narcat world 
End Overdose's chapter program is vital to our success in equipping young people with lifesaving education and resources. Rather than proselytizing from a soapbox to Gen-Z and Millennials, we trust young people in cities and on college campuses to spread the word through a true peer-to-peer model. With 50 chapters nationwide, our members and volunteers are committing endless hours to End Overdose's cause, so we want to highlight a chapter every week.
Today, we're proud to highlight our End Overdose Boston chapter! We spoke with president Ben Lewis about originally discovering overdose prevention, his chapter members' diverse array of skills and interests, and much more.
What sparked your interest in overdose prevention/response and End Overdose in particular?
I became interested in overdose prevention in 2021 when I started to go to raves in Detroit. As many know, drugs can be a big part of rave culture, and I wanted to keep myself and my friends safe. I found End Overdose on instagram and decided to do an online narcan training. Little did I know I'd be founding a chapter in Boston two years later.
Can you describe your experience as chapter president of Boston?
My experience as president of the Boston chapter has been wonderful. I hit the ground running by myself in 2023 during pride month and quickly gained interest from queer people in the community who later became volunteers. Our team is driven and always eager to volunteer, which makes my job easy :) I couldn't ask for a better group to work with!
How have you developed authentic connections within the community?
End Overdose Boston (EOB) is unique in that many of our team members are active in the overdose prevention space outside End Overdose. This includes healthcare workers, public health coordinators, drug researchers, and students. Our different backgrounds allow us to contribute unique perspectives when planning new initiatives around Boston. Largely, we've developed authentic connections in our city by drawing from our networks and emphasizing the importance of variety in programming. In the past year, we've reached different audiences at pride festivals, community resource fairs, fraternities, nursing classrooms, club nights, and more. Boston is a big college town with 35+ schools, so there's a unique opportunity to reach a young crowd.
What’re the major highlights from your chapter’s work to date?
Since our founding in 2023, we have trained 2179 people, distributed 1773 boxes of Naloxone, and handed out 7818 fentanyl test strips. We had an action-packed June and are prepping for another strong year. Another thing we're proud of is our work building a strong footprint on campus at Northeastern University.
What do you envision for the future of your chapter?
EOB is a younger chapter, so we've grown very quickly and are always looking to build new collaborations. In the future, we hope to grow by partnering directly with new nightlife venues and concert series. This model has worked well for us in the past when it comes to recurring programming, so we want to build on this momentum. We also aim to be a more active voice in the Boston overdose prevention space by 1) holding more events 2) having more conversations with community members at those events 3) contributing to drug policy discussions. Our team is ambitious and we want to help shape the future of overdose prevention in Massachusetts.