About Rebel Harm Reduction
Rebel Harm Reduction is a harm reduction organization that offers peer-led popular education, socio-political advocacy, and community outreach to reduce overdose and other harms related to drug use. We provide information, resources, and services to support people who use drugs in making informed decisions about their health and well-being.
Rebel Harm Reduction, officially founded in 2023 by Phoenix Mohawk Kellye AKA The Rebel Educationist, is an organization and initiative that is rooted in the principles of harm reduction, centering the needs of many underserved, marginalized drug-using populations that are are impacted by the many harms of the War on Drugs.
Our Projects
While uniquely positioned to offer drug checking services in NYC and beyond, our services are not limited to only drug checking. Under the Rebel Harm Reduction umbrella, we operate 3 projects:
Spectrometer substance identification and other chemical analysis, reserved for research and educational purposes in minority/marginalized communities and underground markets.
Rebel Analytics is a free, community educational and analytical service subsidized by private contributions and donations based in New York City.
We use an FTIR spectrometer, immunoassay strips, colorimetric reagents to analyze substances via local collection, with plans to extend services to mail-based participants in the future. We help inform people about the substances they use and/or may encounter in the world.
Results are communicated through live streaming, video recordings, social media alerts, and direct in-person or secure text-based communication.
Drug and harm reduction education and resources, presented by The Rebel Educationist. Educational topics include, but are not limited to research around drug user health and well-being (communicated in lay terms), evidence-based data on drugs, drug & human rights policy, and advocacy for people who use drugs.
A drug using harm reductionist’s guide for evidence-based functional substance use integration
Access to adequate healthcare and medical information is elusive to many. Combined with nonsensical laws and various stigma and biases, there’s an overwhelmingly high prevalence of self-medication practices with drugs and other substances. These are practices that are rarely discussed with healthcare practitioners, if one has access to primary care at all for a myriad of reasons, primarily due to the lack of education practitioners have on these subjects and the consequences clients may face for disclosing such information.
Substance use is often seen as a hindrance or a magic quick fix to challenges or problems in our lives. It doesn’t hold value to the general population unless it’s “curing” something from a clinical standpoint. Nobody is using substances to suffer, we all are looking to receive the maximum benefits from substance use, and with honest, evidence-based information can minimize risks.
Nobody takes drugs to have a bad time or make their lives worse. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
The Founder
10+ years of harm reduction vigilantism
Rebel Harm Reduction is led by Phoenix Mohawk Kellye AKA “Mohawk”, a global leader in the harm reduction space with over 10 years of experience in thought leadership, advanced drug testing, and service provision.
Mohawk founded New York DanceSafe and served as the President for 9 years, where they coordinated and staffed harm reduction teams for events, provided medical team assistance, and distributed educational and harm reduction resources/supplies.
Mohawk also serves as a Youth Rise board member for the last 2 years and has worked as a NEXT Distro Technical Program Manager and Communications Manager.
Shortlist of Accomplishments:
- Generated over 5000 unique hand-crafted and hand-coded cross-platform educational web and social media content between April 2013 and December 2020, organically engaging over 4000 users daily without paid tools or algorithms.
- Over 750 posts about drug checking results and #TestIt alerts.
- 2000 posts about drug-specific harm reduction, health and wellness.
- Researched and redesigned new drug information cards utilized for harm reduction displays at events such as Electric Daisy Carnival Las Vegas (EDC) and by organizations in countries such as New Zealand.
- Assisted medical staff at events such as Panorama Music Festival, Dirtybird Campout East, and Afrikaburn.
- Collaborated and partnered with other DanceSafe chapters and other nightlife harm reduction organizations such as Stay Safe Seattle, Philly/PA DanceSafe, Breakline Party Peers (Safe ’n’ Sound) in Antwerp, Belgium, and Unity in Amsterdam, Netherlands.
- Executed first-of-its-kind research in Guinea-Bissau and Sierra Leone, utilizing the FTIR Spectrometer to help identify deadly contaminants contributing to the drug overdose and addiction crisis in west Africa that has been declared a “national emergency”
- Has performed over 1500 drug tests across 11 countries, testing various classes of substances, including substances previously deemed “incompatible” with the tools over the past 10+ years
- Hundreds of naloxone doses distributed amongst individuals aged 16-35
- Trained, coordinated, and managed a roster of 35+ harm reduction volunteers over the span of 8 years as the president of NY DanceSafe, providing services at over 100 events.
- Kickstarted and bootstrapped 3 DanceSafe subchapters in the northeast: NJ DanceSafe, Western NY DanceSafe, and New England DanceSafe.
- Trained drug checking technicians in South Africa, collectively analyzing over 100 substances in 1 week of operation.
- Successfully operating all service independently on less than $12,000 per year in funding, predominantly from Patreon/Open Collective contributions and limited personal income
Rebel Harm Reduction past and present
A very abbreviated timeline
2012 Founded PlurRX
PlurRx was a grassroots initiative to help educate EDM party goers about substances and safer substance consumption. PlurRx provided information and recovery supplements to those interested in more sustainable use patterns, without sacrificing their “vices”.
2013 Founded New York DanceSafe, Inc., President
New York DanceSafe aids local music communities by staffing harm reduction booths at events. We provided information and materials on alcohol and other substances, safer sex, and other health and safety issues concerning music and nightlife spaces. Former volunteers now operate SafeRave NYC.
2014-Present
Mohawk FKA “Mohawk the Educator” provided local and global harm reduction services through NY DanceSafe and collaborations outside of NY.
2022-Present
As a David Prize finalist, Mohawk was gifted an FTIR Spectrometer by a philanthropist on the judging panel that wanted to help move this initiative forward, previously hindered by lack of access to higher level drug checking equipment and funding. Upon the arrival of the Bruker Alpha II FTIR spectrometer, Rebel Harm Reduction was officially founded to increase drug checking and harm reduction service capacity to underserved communities
The Rebel Harm Reduction Story
How it Started vs. How it's Going...
A rebel challenges the status quo, questions authority, and inspires change. They are often charismatic and unafraid to take risks to achieve their goals for their beliefs and values. Yes, sometimes that means breaking the rules, resisting authority, or challenging the status quo in a nontraditional way.
State-of-the-art drug checking combination kitchen-living room laboratory in 2019, using borrowed equipment.
State-of-the-art drug checking combination kitchen-living room laboratory in 2023, using personal equipment.
