What is HARM REDUCTION?
“(A) society in which the use and regulation of drugs are grounded in science, compassion, health and human rights, in which people are no longer punished for what they put into their own bodies but only for crimes committed against others, and in which the fears, prejudices and punitive prohibitions of today are no more.” — Drug Policy Alliance
Harm reduction is not one policy, just as “science, compassion, health and human rights” is not one thing.
“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….(T)here is no universal definition of or formula for implementing harm reduction,” says the Harm Reduction Coalition.
Drug Policy Alliance founder Ethan Nadelmann, a former Princeton University professor, has been the nation’s most important harm reduction advocate. His TED talk is well worth your time.