Clare Schmidt is a harm reductionist and drug nerd who was introduced to harm reduction through the vibrant community in Boston, Massachusetts. While working as the program coordinator at AHOPE, the largest harm reduction program in New England, she helped establish one of the first SSP-based drug checking programs in the country. She currently works nationally to help organizations establish and roll-out drug checking programs with a focus on technician training, capacity building, and implementation support. Clare has seen the ways in which racist and prohibitionist drug policies have led to an erratic and unpredictable drug supply and broken care systems and strives to reduce the mountain of preventable harm that these systems perpetuate upon people who use drugs. Clare believes strongly in drug checking as both a way to increase personal autonomy, consumer power, and pleasure maximization; and as a route through which to regulate an unregulated market. Ultimately, she envisions drug checking programs as a stepping-stone on the path towards safe supply. Clare is a founding member of the Alliance for Collaborative Drug Checking and holds a degree in Neuroscience from the University of Minnesota and a Masters of Public Health in Social and Behavioral Sciences from Boston University.