Luke Grandis

Luke Grandis (they/them/theirs), 31, is a queer and nonbinary Organizer and Harm Reductionist based out of Albany, New York. Luke is the Upstate Lead Organizer for VOCAL-NY (Voices of Community Activists and Leaders of NY), a statewide, grassroots organization fighting to end the drug war, homelessness, mass incarceration, and HIV/AIDS. Luke is a member of the End Overdose NY coalition and helps coordinate the Capital Region Harm Reduction Roundtable. In addition to their current work Organizing at VOCAL-NY, Luke’s work experience in the realm of harm reduction includes syringe exchange, safer injection and safer drug use education, Hepatitis-C & HIV education, testing, and linkage to care, overdose prevention and naloxone training, as well as case management for people seeking access to Buprenorphine and Methadone, Medical Marijuana, and in housing retention for PLWHA. Luke seeks to combine their work experience with their experiential authority as a person in remission from intravenous drug use to continue educating others about harm reduction, overdose prevention, and drug use, and organizing directly-impacted individuals to build their own political power to pass life-changing policies relating to substance use, mass incarceration, housing insecurity, and AIDS.