Chicago Recovery Alliance

DePaul event encourages attendees to rethink perceptions of drug use

Written on January 29, 2020. Posted in Press.

Legalization of cannabis in Illinois after decades of criminalization has spurred many to rethink their perceptions of drug use. DePaul University sociology professor Greg Scott offered a space for this evaluation in an open lecture on drug user advocacy this past Friday, Jan. 24. His lecture, titled “They Talk, We Die: Drug user Advocacy as a Human Liberation Movement,” asked a room packed with students to question their understanding of drug use and users – how their perceptions formed and who controls the narrative.

Chemsex Toolkit

Written on December 18, 2019. Posted in Downloads.

This toolkit is designed to give harm reduction organizations and syringe services programs an overview of chemsex We have received questions about booty-bumping and supplies for a kit, how to reach communities of men who have sex with men who are engaged in chemsex, and what supplies and resources to have available for sex workers using stimulants. As providers of harm reduction services, we have an obligation to ensure adequate resources for all clients.

Mutual Aid in Chicago

Written on October 19, 2019. Posted in Press.

We are so honored to be included among an incredible list of mutual aid orgs in Chicago! Many thanks Jes Shine for acknowledging that Harm Reduction has always been about mutual aid and that people who use drugs are generous and take care of each other!

CRA Annual Report 2018

Written on June 19, 2019. Posted in Downloads, News.

Our annual report for 2018. This report clearly demonstrates that CRA is a robust, health, innovative, envelope-pushing organization. Thanks to our staff and volunteers for all for the incredible work you do to assist our participants in making any positive change.

Honoring Antonio

Written on June 18, 2019. Posted in News.

The Chicago Recovery Alliance team is grieving the passing of Antonio Williams. For well more than half of his life, Antonio was a devoted CRA volunteer. He also was a long-standing member of our Board of Directors. We feel honored that he chose to spend so much of his time helping Chicagoans who use drugs and do sex work achieve Any Positive Change on the terms they set for themselves.

Is stigma more harmful than heroin?

Written on May 8, 2019. Posted in Press.

Since America’s founding, our relationship with dependence has been fraught at best, fatal at worst. “Independence!” we cry, charging forth across a country we stole, armed with devices we cannot live without. The terms within which we discuss addiction have been moralized, medicalized, and politicized in waves for the past century. (CRA Director Greg Scott quoted in article).