What is Harm Reduction?
Harm reduction refers to a range of pragmatic and evidence-based public health policies designed to reduce the harmful consequences associated with drug use and other high risk activities. The principles of harm reduction propose that syringes should be easily available (i.e. without a prescription). Where syringes are provided in sufficient quantities, rates of HIV are much lower than in places where supply is restricted. Harm reductionists also argue that users should be supplied free of charge at clinics set up for this purpose: needle exchange programs. It has been shown in the many evaluations of needle exchange programs that in areas where clean syringes are more available, illegal drug use is no higher than in other areas. Rates of infection of HIV, hepatitis, and other blood-borne illness are dramatically decreased in areas with greater access to syringes. In Seattle, the rate of HIV infection among injection drug users is about 2 to 4 percent, as opposed to other major cities that were either late in adopting harm reduction practices or have yet to do so where rates of HIV infection can range from 20 to 60 percent.
Harm reduction is a philosophy and a social movement. It is just what its name suggests: an effort to reduce harm, especially the harm associated with certain behaviors like drug use. To echo the famous feminist phrase, harm reduction is the radical notion that drug users are humans - and that they can govern their own lives and communities with skill and compassion.
Harm reduction was first practiced by drug users themselves. In the beginning of the AIDS epidemic, when it became clear that the virus could be transmitted by blood in shared needles, drug users banded together to protect themselves. They started the first needle exchange networks. At a needle exchange, people can safely dispose of used syringes so that they don't pose any risk to others, and they can get new syringes that will help them stay safe in the future.
Through harm reduction activities like needle exchange, overdose prevention and treatment, health education, and political activism, drug users can take a powerful ethical stance. Their efforts both limit the negative effects of drug use and contribute to positive social change. When someone decides that they will no longer share needles, that decision not only safeguards the user's own health, it also benefits their whole network: friends, children, lovers, those who use drugs and those who do not. To practice harm reduction is to live the principles of dignity, respect, and responsibility.