PRINCIPLES OF 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.
FOUNDATIONAL PRINCIPLES CENTRAL TO HARM REDUCTION
Harm reduction incorporates a spectrum of strategies that includes safer use, managed use, abstinence, meeting people who use drugs “where they are at,” and addressing conditions of use along with the use itself.
Harm reduction refers to policies, programs, and practices that aim to minimize negative health, social and legal impacts associated with drug use, drug policies, and drug laws. Harm reduction is grounded in injustice and human rights. It focuses on positive change and on working with people without judgment, coercion, discrimination, or requiring that they stop using drugs as a precondition of support. Harm reduction encompasses a range of health and social services and practices that apply to illicit and licit drugs. These include, but are not limited to, drug consumption rooms, needle and syringe programs, non-abstinence-based housing and employment initiatives, drug checking, overdose prevention and reversal, psychosocial support, and the provision of information on safer drug use. There is no universally accepted definition of harm reduction.