The Synapse Initiative

Reframing Addiction Through Science, Empathy, and Innovation

Synapse works to educate communities about the neuroscience of addiction while building real-world solutions to reduce opioid harm, prevent overdose deaths, and remove stigma.

Core Pillars

The Four Es of Synapse

Synapse combines education, technology, prevention, and empathy to address the opioid epidemic from multiple angles.

Educate

Explain the science behind addiction and show that it is not simply a matter of morality or willpower, but also involves chemical imbalances in the brain.

Empower

Help patients safely manage pain medications through close and frequent follow-up using an AI voice agent.

Encourage

Promote pill return incentives for unused opioids to reduce unnecessary access and misuse.

Ensure

Develop Opi-Guard, a wearable device intended to help prevent deaths from opioid overdose.

Naloxone Pledge Model

Turning Opioid Returns Into Lives Saved

Synapse collects unused prescription opioids from communities and partners with sponsors to fund naloxone kits.

Step 1

Community members safely return unused prescription opioids.

Step 2

Sponsors pledge to fund one naloxone kit for every pill bottle collected.

Step 3

More naloxone access means more overdose reversals and more lives saved.

Mission Statement

Changing the Narrative Around Addiction

Synapse aims to educate people about the core reason why addiction happens — that it isn’t simply a behavioral issue or a fault of one’s willpower, but an issue of molecular signaling. In doing so, we hope to remove the stigma behind addiction and truly demonstrate that, no matter how strong of a will you have, it is impossible to avoid opioid addiction once exposed.

Synapse aims to foster empathy for those suffering from addiction and to take action to prevent addiction.

Inspiration

How Synapse Began

Through independent research designing a protein called Opi-Gone, the biochemical implications of addiction became impossible to ignore.

Learning how addiction mechanisms are effectively hardwired into the human brain shattered existing stereotypes and judgments surrounding addiction. That realization inspired the creation of Synapse — a movement focused on education, empathy, prevention, and innovative solutions to mitigate the opioid epidemic.

Join the Synapse Initiative

Whether you want to collaborate, support our mission, or learn more about Synapse, we would love to hear from you.