Harm reduction rests on several basic assumptions.
A basic tenet of harm reduction is that there has never been,
is not now, and never will be a drug-free society.
A harm reduction strategy seeks pragmatic solutions to the
harms that drugs and drug policies cause. It has been said
that harm reduction is not what's nice, it's what works.
A harm reduction approach acknowledges that there is no ultimate
solution to the problem of drugs in a free society, and that
many different interventions may work. Those interventions
should be based on science, public health, common sense and
human rights.
A harm reduction strategy demands new outcome measurements.
Whereas the success of current drug policies is primarily
measured by the change in use rates, the success of a harm
reduction strategy is measured by the change in rates of death,
disease, crime and suffering.
Because incarceration does little to reduce the harms that
ever-present drugs cause to our society, a harm reduction
approach favors treatment of drug addiction by health care
professionals over incarceration in the penal system.
Because some drugs, such as marijuana, have proven medicinal
uses, a harm reduction strategy not only seeks to reduce the
harm that drugs cause, but also to maximize their potential
benefits.
A harm reduction strategy recognizes that some drugs, such
as marijuana, are less harmful than others, such as cocaine
and alcohol. Harm reduction mandates that the emphasis on
intervention should be based on the relative harmfulness of
the drug to society.
A harm reduction approach advocates lessening the harms of
drugs through education, prevention, and treatment.
Harm reduction seeks to reduce the harms of drug policies
dependent on an over-emphasis on interdiction, such as arrest,
incarceration, establishment of a felony record, lack of treatment,
lack of adequate information about drugs, the expansion of
military source control intervention efforts in other countries,
and intrusion on personal freedoms.
Harm reduction also seeks to reduce the harms caused by an
over-emphasis on prohibition, such as increased purity, black
market adulterants, black market sale to minors, and black
market crime.
A harm reduction strategy seeks to protect youth from the
dangers of drugs by offering factual, science-based drug education
and eliminating youth's black market exposure to drugs.
Finally, harm reduction seeks to restore basic human dignity
to dealing with the disease of addiction.
