Harm Reduction

Principles and Best Practices

ACCEPTANCE


Acceptance in two ways:

  • Accepting that, regardless of ones feelings on such, drug use exists and is not going away. Prohibition has not been effective in ceasing drug use in North America and a great deal of societies elsewhere. Drug use is ubiquitous, societies and cultures generally just judge which drugs are acceptable to use and which are not.
  • Accepting people who use drugs. They are human beings deserving of housing, healthcare, and dignity. Using actively stigmatized drugs doesn't make one ineligible for respect or unworthy of care.

MITIGATION


We can support and decriminalize practices that are statistically proven to lead to better health outcomes for people who use drugs. Syringe exchanges statistically decrease Hepatits C and HIV transmission. Safe injection sites statistically decrease risk of overdose for those who use them. We can't erase the fact that there are indeed risks to drug use, but we can do our best to help our communities stay safer and mitigate these risks.

WHY HR?

Won't go into my personal history on this topic but suffice to say: I believe in the humanity of drug users and that they deserve as much dignity as anyone else. There's a great body of evidence that harm reduction practices such as syringe exchanges, safe injection sites, safe supply initiatives, et al. statistically decrease mortality in people who use drugs. More information from people more intelligent and experienced than I can be accessed in the links below but I will place some brief snippets regarding harm reduction principles on this page.

LINKS
HOME National Harm Reduction Coalition Crackdown Podcast Drug Policy Alliance Youtube Channel Principles of Harm Reduction PDF

CONTACT

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