Substance Use 101 — Depressants

This webinar will review basic information about depressant use with a focus on why people use depressants, how they impact a person, and harm reduction and drug treatment options.  The training will provide an overview of commonly used depressants and explain what they look like, how much they cost, how they affect the brain, and risk factors for health.  Participants will learn how tolerance and routes of administration impact the effects of drugs.  Participants will learn how to use Harm Reduction methods to engage with people who use drugs and better understand their experience.

By the end of the training, workshop participants will be able to:

1. Use a Harm Reduction framework to identify risks and develop strategies for engaging People Who Use Drugs (PWUD) in care, retaining PWUD in care, and for reduction of drug related harms
2. Understand how tolerance, route of administration, and Drug, Set and Setting impact the way drugs affect people who use drugs
3. Describe the effects of drugs to service providers and PWUD
4. Understand the continuum of drug use and how stigma, race, socioeconomic status, gender identity impact both people’s vulnerability to and capacity for effectively dealing with drug-related harm

register here