On March 26, 2025, The Wall Las Memorias, in collaboration with the USC Institute for Addiction Science, UCLA Health, the Los Angeles County Department of Public Health Substance Use and Prevention Control (SAPC), and LA County Supervisors Hilda Solis and Lindsey Horvath, hosted the inaugural United for Solutions: Conference on the Opioids & Meth Crisis at the California Endowment in Downtown Los Angeles. The event brought together leaders from public health, treatment, harm reduction, prevention, and community organizations to collaboratively address LA’s escalating overdose crisis.
With alarming statistics regarding methamphetamine-related overdoses and the cross-mixing of fentanyl increasing fatal outcomes, the conference emphasized the importance of community-informed solutions. Attendees heard from experts across sectors on how to apply harm reduction strategies, build supportive services, and increase awareness around substance use disorders.
Charles Porter, Senior Director of Prevention Services at Social Model Recovery Systems, drew from over 25 years of experience in the prevention field to share insights on community-based strategies, particularly in Skid Row. Speaking during a panel discussion, he underlined the importance of meeting people where they are—both physically and in terms of their life circumstances. During the COVID-19 pandemic, his team shifted traditional outreach efforts from mobile vaccine clinics to health and resource fairs in public parks, which serve as key gathering spaces for people experiencing homelessness. He stressed that addressing substance use requires attention to social determinants of health—such as extreme poverty, housing instability, and institutional racism. Surveys conducted during the start of the pandemic revealed that more than half of unhoused individuals earn less than $5,000 annually and rely heavily on social connection and cultural coping mechanisms to manage daily hardship.
A particularly concerning trend Charles highlighted was the rise in methamphetamine use among unhoused older adults, many of whom reported trying it for the first time in their 40s or 50s. For people experiencing homelessness, methamphetamine is often a means of basic survival—used to stay awake, safeguard belongings, and function in harsh conditions. This challenges common assumptions about substance use and underscores the need for compassionate, community-informed responses. Charles also emphasized the vital role of peer specialists and the importance of creating jobs for community members with lived experience—individuals who can build trust and connect people not only to treatment, but also to broader support systems that address community context and social determinants of health. These efforts prioritize trust, dignity, and long-term stability over short-term fixes.
Other notable speakers included Richard Zaldivar, Executive Director and Founder of The Wall Las Memorias; Adam M. Leventhal, Ph.D., Executive Director of the USC Institute for Addiction Science; Ricky Bluthenthal, Ph.D., Professor of Population and Public Health Sciences at USC Keck School of Medicine; Dr. Brian Hurley, Medical Director of SAPC; and Iliana Rub, Associate Division Chief of the Community Services Division at DHCS. Collectively, they emphasized the urgent need to expand support for treatment and prevention infrastructure, ensure equitable access to care, promoting inclusive public education to reduce stigma, and fostering greater collaboration across systems.
This conference marked a critical step in aligning community voices, public health leaders, and policy makers around one unified goal: creating an equitable, compassionate, and effective response to the opioid and methamphetamine crises in Los Angeles County. The event set a powerful tone for future collaboration, grounded in the belief that healing is built on connection, guided by lived experience, and sustained through systemic change.
