Harm Reduction
We use harm reduction in all aspects of our lives to help keep us safer. Putting on a seatbelt when you get into a car, wearing a helmet when biking, and wearing sunscreen are all day-to-day harm reduction activities. These are all examples of ways to participate in activities while also decreasing the potential risks of harm.
Harm reduction is also an evidence-based, person-centred approach that helps to reduce the health and social risks that can result from substance use. Harm reduction recognizes that not using substances/practicing abstinence is not always necessary, realistic, or a choice people want to make. Harm reduction provides practical strategies that help individuals make informed choices, build skills, and reduce potential harms based on their own goals and circumstances. It also emphasizes the importance of inclusive communities where people feel supported rather than isolated, increasing the likelihood they will seek help if or when needed.
Harm reduction principles include:
- Being non-judgmental and respecting a person’s right to make choices for their own lives and to give care and services regardless of their relationship to substances
- Accepting that people can experience benefits of using
- Priority is to reduce the risks or harms of the substance use, not necessarily reduce/eliminate the substance use itself
- Recognizing that small gains and changes can lead to individual and community wellness and safety
Harm reduction can look like:
- Individual strategies: never using alone, drinking water in between beers, avoiding deep inhalations when using cannabis
- Programs: supervised consumption sites, counselling that does not require abstinence from substance use
- Policies: campus access to naloxone kits, decriminalizing substance use
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