Blake Joachim

Blake Joachim is a committed harm reductionist who was shepherded into harm reduction by the pioneering team at AHOPE in Boston, Mass. He currently works in Portland, OR at Outside In's Harm Reduction program where he started one of the first community-centered FTIR-based drug checking programs on the US West Coast. As interest and acceptance in harm reduction and drug checking have increased, Blake is motivated to keep these movements and tools focused on people who use drugs. He sees drug checking as a means to elevate the autonomy, connection and empowerment that harm reduction fosters, while striving to protect the fidelity and privacy of the data programs collect and distribute.

You'll often catch Blake hyper-fixating and going down rabbit-holes, both into the realm of drug checking as well as into other random interests. He has many hobbies but most of them involve trying to fix old broken things, DIY projects, reading, and hiking.

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