Humanizing Drug Overdoses in Colorado

A Liberatory Harm Reduction Comic Made with Sex Workers and People Who Use Drugs

Bibliographic Data

ID2824403
AuthorsMarty Otañez (0000-0002-0168-2221, marty otañez is Associate Professor of Anthropology at the University of Colorado Denver), Betsy Craft (betsy craft is Director of Drug Policy at the Colorado Drug Policy Coalition), Nikketa Burges (nikketa burges is a medical anthropology graduate student in the Anthropology Department at the University of Colorado Denver), Ven Talley (ven talley is a sociology and illustration undergraduate student at the University of Colorado Denver), Andrés Guerrero (0000-0002-6113-6599, andrés guerrero is Director of the Overdose Prevention Unit at the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment), Andrés Guerrero‐Martínez (0000-0001-8576-2896, Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment)
Year2025
Volume138
Issue549
Pages351-360
Publication date2025-07-01
Open AccessNo
TypeARTICLE
VenueJournal of American Folklore (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0021-8715 • E-ISSN: 1535-1882
PublisherUniversity of Illinois Press (PUBLISHER • US)
DOI10.5406/15351882.138.549.07
OpenAlexW4413919301
LanguageEN
Citations received3
References cited8

Anthropologists and folklorists with a desire to foster social justice change apply the graphic novel approach to share personal narratives of community members. Our team of arts-based researchers and community advocates offers details of a university-research partnership and a brief example of a graphic novel excerpt from the larger project. The graphic novel excerpt showcases Chloe, a person who uses drugs and sex worker, and an overdose incident at her workplace in Colorado. The graphic novel approach helps to humanize people who use drugs and destigmatize individuals who engage in routine drug use as part of their health care regimen

Comics · Criminology · Drug · Harm · Harm reduction · Political science · Public health · Reduction (mathematics) · Sociology · Crime, Deviance, and Social Control · Law · Medicine · Nursing · Pharmacology · Psychology · Sex work and related issues · Sexuality, Behavior, and Technology · Social Psychology

Tools

Open DOI