What is Harm Reduction?

““Harm reduction helps people who use drugs avoid negative effects, like infection or overdose. But it’s also more than that. In addition, “many understand harm reduction as a way to meet people where they are with kindness and respect.””
— Shatterproof.org

What Is Harm Reduction?

Harm reduction is exactly what it sounds like: reducing the harm associated with using drugs through a variety of public health interventions. But the concept relies on more than these tools and begins, at the most fundamental level, with recognizing that all people deserve safety and dignity. It does not treat drug use as a moral failing. Harm reduction acknowledges that drugs are widely available in our society. It encompasses the understanding that traditional law enforcement approaches or those that require complete abstinence do not decrease demand, use, or negative health consequences of substance use.

Published by Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, February 16, 2022.

Read the full article

Harm reduction OUTSIDE of substance use:

  • Wearing a seatbelt when driving

  • Wearing a nicotine patch instead of smoking

  • Wearing a face mask during the pandemic and during yearly cold and flu seasons

 

Harm reduction IN substance use:

  • Not using substances alone (This increases the risk of an overdose!)

  • Learning signs and symptoms of an overdose

  • Learning how to administer Naloxone

  • Substance use testing strips: fentanyl and xylazine

  • Understanding the Good Samaritan Law and how it protects bystanders in the event of an overdose event

  • Deciding to use less or fewer substances

  • Knowing where to get help and support

Harm Reduction Resources

Click on the logos below to access the online resource.

The CCHD offers free naloxone kits, as well as fentanyl and xylazine testing strips, available upon request. Through our Clinical Health Services Division, we also provide Hepatitis C (HCV) screenings to support early detection and care.

 

A 24/7 toll-free hotline where you will be connected to an operator who can stay on the phone while you use drugs alone, activating an emergency safety plan that will be decided upon with the caller and operator.

 

Through mobile outreach teams, CTHRA delivers essential supplies, HIV/HCV testing, wound care kits, and servcies care, and syringe services across dozens of communities including the most underserved areas to help keep people safe, reduce harm, and connect individuals to vital care and resources.

 

The National Harm Reduction Coalition promotes health and dignity of people who use drugs by providing safer use education, expanding naloxone access, and leading overdose prevention trainings.