Sydney Sauer

Sydney is a sociology PhD student at Harvard University. She is also the former director of operations at The SOAR Initiative, and has given a TEDx talk on harm reduction for beginners.

To Move Beyond Abstinence-Only, We Need Better Tools to Measure Recovery

Recovery from a substance use disorder has traditionally been conflated with “sobriety,” or total abstinence. In reality, many people recover…

December 1, 2025

Drug Testing Defeats the Purpose of “Second Chance” Hiring

Opening employment opportunities to people with prior convictions, often called “second chance hiring,” can be an economically savvy way for…

October 22, 2025

Indigenous OD Mortality Plummets in Minnesota, But Disparity Remains

Indigenous people face persistent disparities in access to harm reduction services in the United States. In response, Native American health…

September 22, 2025

Tennessee Harm Reductionist Faces Charges for Drug Checking

A constant threat to harm reductionists is that without clear legal protections, their lifesaving work can be criminalized. The recent…

August 19, 2025

People Seeking Methadone or Bupe Face “More Stress Than You Know”

Methadone and buprenorphine are widely prescribed and considered gold-standard medications for opioid use disorder (MOUD). Yet despite their proven benefits,…

July 22, 2025

Harm Reduction Vending Machines Work, Says 30 Years of Research

From New York City to rural Oklahoma and across the world, harm reduction vending machines are gaining popularity. They offer…

June 30, 2025

Music Festival Attendees Embrace DIY Drug Checking Despite Barriers

As temperatures rise and music festival season kicks into gear across the United States, hundreds of thousands of people will…

May 22, 2025

Test Strips Do Tell You If Xylazine Is Present, But Prone to False Positives

Xylazine has emerged as a major adulterant in the unregulated drug supply in recent years. Initially common in certain cities…

May 1, 2025

Secret Shoppers Struggle to Buy Naloxone, Syringes at Texas Pharmacies

Since the Food and Drug Administration approved over-the-counter (OTC) naloxone in 2023, pharmacies nationwide have stocked their shelves with the…

March 25, 2025

Community “Bad Batch” Alerts Contrast With Algorithmic OD Prevention

In 2020, Ohio-based nonprofit the SOAR Initiative launched a pioneering “bad batch” alert system. Its platform allows anyone to submit…

March 3, 2025