Across New Jersey, there’s something particularly badass and inspiring happening. In a show of DIY solidarity, inclusion and compassion, one group of volunteers is making it their mission to bring information and vital resources to their community to make those using substances safer and empowered. Their mission is harm reduction, and their method is going to meet the community where they’re at – gigs, shows, events…wherever they’re needed or can make a difference, they will make sure they’re there.
They’re Safe Scene NJ and Punk Rock Philosophy caught up with founder Travis to talk about how punks are filling the gaps left by dwindling and impenetrable support services and offering non-judgemental information and signposting.
Mutual Aid in Your Basement…
Safe Scene NJ is not exclusively a punk-affiliated group (no one is gonna have to pass a punk purity test to get involved with helping them!) but the ethos of the punk scene has meant that it does seem a natural home for what they are trying to do, as Travis explained:
“We are about a year since I started Safe Scene NJ, but I volunteered for other harm reduction groups before that and I’ve also been involved in the local music scene for 25 years. And even though mutual aid may seem like a newer concept to a lot of people, in the punk scene we’ve been doing that forever! Whether it’s benefit shows or just ‘hey this person needs some help’ … we get together and make sure everyone is taken care of”.
If you look around any community now, you will find there’s people that need assistance. With increasing living costs, an impoverished public service landscape and a stigma attached to things such as drug use and alcohol dependency, many people (some from already marginalised communities) find themselves without the right information to make informed choices for themselves and their friends. But for harm reduction proponents such as Safe Scene NJ, it isn’t so much about what people choose to do, but more about making sure they can do it (whatever it may be) more safely and get reliable resources from an organisation without an agenda.
Having been through his own experience with addiction, Travis saw the lack of effective service provision firsthand:
“You have this message that AA or NA or step programmes are the only way to get sober and everyone beats that into you, and it is just not true. It actually has quite a low success rate, and there’s so many other ways to handle addiction or chaotic use. I felt it was important to let other people know what I had to go through and take all the information that I found and bring that out to the public. When I went into recovery no one was doing tables at shows or outreach in the community spaces where people in the scene would go, everyone was left to their own devices. So, I thought it was important to change the conversation in substance misuse in the music scene.
“Our goal is to literally- and figuratively – meet people where they are at. If you are gonna use, then use safely. If you know someone who uses, educate yourself so if something happens you can help. We are literally showing up at your basement show in New Brunswick- we are here!”
Support Without Barriers or Conditions
The ethos of Safe Scene NJ is one of non-judgemental, non-stigmatising, trauma-informed assistance and information provision for people that want it. It is not a clinical approach (which Travis stated often turns people off seeking help) or a paternalistic one that preaches abstinence. It is about sharing vital, life-saving information and resources in a way that people can access. This means taking their ‘merch’ (informational leaflets/flyers, condoms, drink test strips, sanitary products, overdose response training amongst other things) to where people are gathered- be that gigs, festivals or other events- and providing it free of charge. It’s removing all barriers that people may find when trying to get these things elsewhere. Although not exclusively attending punk events, the smaller DIY venues do tend to provide a welcoming environment for the group and their wares:
“Smaller DIY ,true punk spaces are great- they extend open arms, and give you whatever you need. They are in the thick of things so they see the community. There’s a lot of young kids that are in these punk spaces and they are showing up and they don’t have a supportive home (or home at all)… so walking into a venue like the Meat Locker and seeing a table of resources for safer use or for a queer-led peer group or therapeutic information is powerful. It sends the message that someone is looking out for you- that’s a big deal for someone trying to figure out who they are. The smaller venues see the importance in it, they are in it for the community. It’s their neighbours”.
Harm reduction in substance use is an approach that prioritises user safety, replacing so-called ‘zero-tolerance’ policies that often categorise something like drug use as a criminal justice issue. Harm reduction first became a widely used term in the UK in the 1980s in response to the increasing number of cases of HIV among drug injectors and the development of syringe exchange schemes. It recognises that judgement, ostracization, and punitive measures actually do very little to deter or curb substance use and actively stigmatise and harm those using.
So if the evidence points towards a more supportive and liberal approach, why are we still as a society pushing a clinical and/or punitive approach? It can’t be a coincidence that rehabilitation programmes are big bucks, with many in the US run by private equity firms:
“A lot of it is capitalism. They can profit off of people- the recovery system is broken. The housing system is broken. Everything is for profit. Go to rehab in the US, and they are not looking to fix you or come up with a solution- they are looking to take Medicaid money and have you come back because the way they make money is to have repeat customers. And people are gonna continue to get hurt because of the stigma and because you make it unaffordable for them to access the stuff that you should have access to. The healthcare system is for profit, the pharmaceutical system is a for profit system… everyone is out to line their pockets at the expense of the people they are forcing into suffering.”
Punk has always been willing to subvert the for-profit model that dogs many essential services and turn out for those that need a little help- money, food, information…or just the embrace of a community:
“Punk and harm reduction or mutual aid… I think they are intertwined. Punk is DIY and started by people who felt they didn’t have support systems, so they built their own. That has not changed, it has carried through the history of punk so on one hand they just work together really cohesively but also we are not just at punk shows! We do Pride events, drag shows, queer spaces or non-profit spaces, anywhere we can. I’m not gonna say no- everyone is affected by either the opioid crisis or drug war or lack of education so if you want me to set up at an anime festival or something then cool! If there is someone that needs help or a place where people feel we are needed, we will show up. ‘No’ doesn’t help anyone- there are enough ‘no’s for people requesting aid and help”.
Disrupting the cycle of putting essentials behind any kind of paywall is one of most revolutionary aspects of what Safe Scene NJ do- built upon an underlying principle that the things people need to survive and thrive should not be available only to those who have the funds to buy them. And by working in tandem with other mutual aid, harm reduction or community outreach organisations, Travis and his team are able to map and respond to the real needs of the community that they themselves are part of. And Travis is clear, this is not something that needs to be specific to New Jersey- this is a model that can be replicated anywhere where there are people willing to step up and provide:
“I think it is a really cool thing we are building and I hope long term to see this spread out whether it is us or someone else. There are a ton of grassroots organisations around the country so I feel like there are a lot of examples of people looking out for each other. It is important to stay connected to your community and we work via the other groups that also have knowledge of what is happening out there. It is the same concept as the national weather service- they are there to make sure people know what is coming their way so it is important to stay connected with people doing work in the greater area so you can make informed decisions.”
Even if you take away the physical, in-person work Safe Scene NJ are doing on the ground, their Instagram page alone is a treasure trove of vital information about safe drug consumption, signposting to available resources and reassuring quotes that your individual path to sobriety or just improved wellbeing do not have to follow a one-size-fits-all pattern. And despite a chaotic political situation in the US which has put the funding for wider harm reduction and public health initiatives in peril, Travis will not be deterred from supporting those who need it and may in fact, need it now more than ever. And there are ways that you can help as well- if not in New Jersey, then in your own community:
“…Just get involved. I want people to get involved. Everyone sees what is going on around them but everyone is so stuck in going through the motions that they ignore people around them. Help the people you see every day. There’s a million ways to help and it doesn’t have to be helping us directly, everyone has their own communities to worry about. Just fucking DO something- if you don’t like what is going on around you, change it! Be part of the solution, not a bystander to the problem.
My kids are gonna grow up and I want them to have a better world than the one I grew up in and the one that I have now. I want them to have access to everything possible to make the best decisions for themselves, their friends and community.
Find something you are passionate about- read about it and find out how you can help”.
If you would like to find out more about the work Safe Scene NJ are doing then you can follow them on IG, or check out their website and see how you can donate, get involved (if you’re in the NJ area) or familiarise yourself with their information and share, share, share the resources!
If you are looking for support and information around anything that has been mentioned in this article then please know that there are services and organisations out there that can help. In the UK, the NHS website might be a starting point to signpost you to support in your area and the Lets Talk About It site can help with sexual health concerns.
Stay safe and look out for each other.
