PHOTO BY EDIE LE BOUTON

Wednesday, July 2, 2025; Thrive for Change, 11002 Detroit Avenue: (L-R) Thrive for Change Executive Director Bethany Roebuck, Harm Reduction Education Coordinator Ashley Rosser, and Community Engagement & Response Coordinator Elisha Starkey offer help to opioid users.

by Edie Le Bouton

  (Plain Press August 2025) Persons who use opioids, or are experiencing problems with substance abuse, or are experiencing barriers to accessing services, have a one-stop shop, Thrive for Change, 11002 Detroit Ave., that operates under the Harm Reduction principle.

  “Harm Reduction was originated by the Black Panthers during the beginning of the AIDs crises,” Ashley Rosser, HARM Reduction Education Coordinator, explained.

  Harm Reduction is a set of strategies and ideas pointed at reducing the negative consequences associated with drug use. It is also a movement for social justice built on a belief in, and respect for, the rights of people who use drugs.

  It is a philosophical and political movement focused on shifting power and resources to people most vulnerable to structural violence. Its approach and fundamental beliefs are in how to provide the services and tools to reduce potential harm.

  “People have been using drugs since the beginning of time,” said Rosser. “We shouldn’t be punishing them by locking them up.” She suggested looking at the principles of Harm Reduction by going to the website harmreduction.org.

  Thrive for Change offers an exhaustive number of supplies, including smoking kits, stems and screens, hygiene kits, wound care kits, bubble pipes and screens, mouth pieces, foil for vaporizing drugs, condoms, cotton pellets, sterile water for cleaning the nose, latex tourniquets, and the lifesaving naloxone and fentanyl test strips.

  Thrive for Change’s website, thrive4change.org, offers a mail order service, available for persons who are experiencing barriers to accessing services, or for anyone who wants to use the service.  Five naloxone kits and 25 test strips can be mail ordered– up to four orders if needed.

  Other mail order supplies include: safer injection kit (cottons, cookers, tie offs, alcohol pads); safer snorting kit (multicolor plastic straws, plastic razors, sanitizer); and safe sex kit (condoms, lube, dental dams, internal condoms)

  Rosser said that Dr. David Margolius, City of Cleveland’s Director of Public Health, has been very helpful in the procurement of the items that Thrive for Change offers.

  There is also a clothing room, where items are donated.

  The bathroom in Thrive for Change’s building has an overdose sensor on the ceiling called the Brave Sensor. The sensor detects breaths and when there is “no movement (breaths),” the sensor calls the Brave Sensor company and sends a text to Rosser, regarding a possible overdose.

  Thrive for Change goes to events with a pop-up tent and discovered they should partner with a food pantry, for people who want to visit Thrive for Change but not be seen doing so. Did they go to the food pantry, or to Thrive for Change?

  Rosser said they get information about new drugs that have come into the community. She said that Xylazine, a non-opioid sedative, is a drug used to sedate animals or to relieve pain. It is now found mixed with heroin and fentanyl.

  The CDC reported in May 2024, that Xylazine, which is not approved for use in people, can slow down the brain and breathing, make the heart beat slower, lower blood pressure, and is especially dangerous when combined with opioids like fentanyl.

  Rosser said Xylazine also causes open wounds on people who have used it.

  Thrive for Change offer Harm Reduction workshops, virtual or in-person, on topics such as Understanding Harm Reduction, Types of Harm Reduction services, Stigma and its role in our world, Trends in drug supply, Ohio Harm Reduction resources, Recognizing opiate overdose, How to use Naloxone, and How to take action now.

  The young women who run Thrive for Change are passionate about their work. To visit the building is an eye-opening experience to see all the products available to keep persons who use opioids safe.