Harm reduction

Harm Reduction is a set of practical strategies and ideas aimed at reducing negative consequences associated with drug use. Harm Reduction is also a movement for social justice built on a belief in, and respect for, the rights of people who use drugs.

Definition

Harm reduction refers to policies, programmes and practices that aim to minimise negative health, social and legal impacts associated with drug use, drug policies and drug laws. Harm reduction is grounded in justice and human rights - it focuses on positive change and on working with people without judgement, coercion, discrimination, or requiring that they stop using drugs as a precondition of support.

Principles

Harm reduction incorporates a spectrum of strategies from safer use, to managed use to abstinence to meet drug users "where they're at," addressing conditions of use along with the use itself. Because harm reduction demands that interventions and policies designed to serve drug users reflect specific individual and community needs, there is no universal definition of or formula for implementing harm reduction.

Strategies

Harm reduction strategies are designed to mitigate the health risks associated with drug use, such as overdose, HIV, hepatitis C, addiction, and death. These strategies include needle and syringe programmes, opioid substitution therapy, overdose prevention and reversal, psychosocial support, and provision of information on safer drug use.

Criticism

Critics of harm reduction typically believe that tolerating risky or illegal behaviour sends a message to the community that such behaviours are acceptable. They argue that harm reduction strategies have the potential to cause an increase in drug use and related harms.

See Also

• Drug policy
• Public health
• Addiction
• Overdose
• HIV
• Hepatitis C

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