In school, Esters was known to stand up for classmates when they were mistreated.[1] As a preteen, Esters figured out how to hack into her middle school's web system. Growing up, Esters, her parents, and her younger sister, Cheraya, moved often due to the ministry they were involved with.[1]
Personal life
In her late teens, Esters transitioned and legally made her name Aubri. Coming out as a transgender woman caused Esters to lose close relationships, but drove her passion for activism.[2] Esters' sister, Cheraya, who is also queer, credits Esters with giving her the safety and strength to come out.[2]
When she was 18, Esters began using drugs.[2][4] After a couple of years, Esters was spending up to $300 daily on her drug use and suffered from abscesses.[2][5] Esters experienced homelessness and said she benefited from services available at Long Island.[6] For over a decade, Esters used methadone to treat chaotic opioid use.[3]
Activism and advocacy
A graphic demonstrating how to administer Narcan. Esters always carried Narcan with her and used it to save many lives.
Esters spoke about herself as a "person who happens to use drugs."[2] She taught medical practitioners and politicians about the challenges of life on the streets and the discrimination and abuse she and other people who use drugs faced. Esters always carried Narcan and saved many people's lives from drug overdose.[1] Esters lost friends to fatal overdose, many of which she witnessed. She urged the state to recognize thousands of lives “wasted” due to preventable overdose.[1]
Harm reduction initiatives
After learning about the use of fentanyl test strips in Canada, she helped bring them to harm reduction organizations in Boston.[7]
In 2016, Esters was on the winning team of a hackathon seeking methods to prevent drug addiction and deaths. Esters' team presented the idea of a mobile van that would visit neighborhoods known for drug-use in Boston.[8][9] Staff would distribute sterile needles and provide counseling and two-days worth of Suboxone.[3]
Before she died, Esters was planning to work with Dr. Miriam Harris, an addiction medicine fellow at Boston Medical Center, on a study that would determine how the COVID-19 pandemic has impacted people who use drugs.[1]
Policy work
Esters was an organizer with the Boston Homeless Solidarity Committee (BHSC).[6]
Esters advocated for people who use drugs in policy conversations with local government officials. She cofounded SIF MA, a group that promoted safe consumption sites.[10] In 2018, she was a representative on the Massachusetts Harm Reduction Commission. Esters urged the state to launch a pilot for supervised consumption facilities. The pilot gained support from the Massachusetts Medical Society. Esters taught the Commission that people who use drugs deserve to have a sense of dignity and safety “regardless of what substance they use or how they use them."[3][11][12][13][14]
Esters pressed for attention to the urgency of the overdose crisis. Once, she interrupted Walsh to express, "My people are dying!"[2] Walsh publicly shared sadness over Esters' death, and credited Esters with changing his perspective on policies regarding substance use.[3]
In 2019, Esters told the Massachusetts Legislature that treating chaotic drug use meant treating the inequity, racism, poverty, and trauma that leads people to develop chaotic drug use.[15]
Death
On June 4, 2020, Esters was found dead, after her mother could not get ahold of her and requested a wellness check be carried out by law enforcement at Esters' apartment in Mass and Cass, near BMC.[1] Esters died days after returning from spending three months with her mother in Florida.[2] Months prior to her death, Esters said isolation in the COVID-19 pandemic was killing people who use drugs.[2] Jess Tilley, executive director of New England Users Union, said of Esters, "We've lost one of our strongest champions in her prime."[3]
Posthumous dedications
On June 18, 2020, Congresswoman Ayanna Pressley introduced a congressional record statement remembering and honoring the life of Aubri Esters.[16][17] "Aubri's Law", a bill that would permit the creation of supervised injection facilities in Massachusetts, was named for Esters.[18]
^ abScoppettuolo, Gerry (September 1, 2016). "Boston homeless fight back". Workers World. Archived from the original on February 19, 2023. Retrieved February 19, 2023.
