




Shatter the stigma! 4D Recovery has worked for more than a decade to provide access to recovery services. However, limited and restrictive resources have prevented us from focusing on destigmatizing drug and alcohol use as an effort to get more people to seek treatment and recovery. With possession and decriminalization of illicit drugs passed in Oregon in 2020 (Measure 110), it is critically important that new intervention models are developed to ensure we do not leave people who need care stranded to addiction.
Right now, support is integral to our work as the recovery landscape evolves. Our work strives to shatter the stigma, and the misperceptions that fuel it, to drive lasting change and fight for the specific needs of adolescents and young adults.



Shatter the stigma! 4D Recovery has worked for more than a decade to provide access to recovery services. However, limited and restrictive resources have prevented us from focusing on destigmatizing drug and alcohol use as an effort to get more people to seek treatment and recovery. With possession and decriminalization of illicit drugs passed in Oregon in 2020 (Measure 110), it is critically important that new intervention models are developed to ensure we do not leave people who need care stranded to addiction.
Right now, support is integral to our work as the recovery landscape evolves. Our work strives to shatter the stigma, and the misperceptions that fuel it, to drive lasting change and fight for the specific needs of adolescents and young adults.
CHANGE THE NARRATIVE
There is an urgent need to shatter the stigma surrounding addiction, which means changing our language and the way we speak about substance use. Recognizing the enormous challenge that stigma poses to our communities, 4D is committed to dismantling stigma within our community's language as a key strategy for tackling the addiction and overdose crisis.
One way to start is by revising the words and terms we use when discussing substance use disorder and the people affected by it. Research has proven that using “person-first” language is essential for stigma reduction, focusing on the person and not their condition. Research has shown that use of terms such as “substance abuser” is more likely to worsen stigma than use of person-first language such as “a person with a substance use disorder.”


CHANGE THE NARRATIVE
There is an urgent need to shatter the stigma surrounding addiction, which means changing our language and the way we speak about substance use. Recognizing the enormous challenge that stigma poses to our communities, 4D is committed to dismantling stigma within our community's language as a key strategy for tackling the addiction and overdose crisis.
One way to start is by revising the words and terms we use when discussing substance use disorder and the people affected by it. Research has proven that using “person-first” language is essential for stigma reduction, focusing on the person and not their condition. Research has shown that use of terms such as “substance abuser” is more likely to worsen stigma than use of person-first language such as “a person with a substance use disorder.”

