Harm Reduction

Harm reduction aims to reduce preventable injury, illness and death associated with substance use while protecting dignity and keeping people connected with care. It can support many goals, including reduced use, safer use, treatment and abstinence.

Harm reduction does not mean approving of harmful substance use.

It starts from a practical question:

What can reduce the risk of serious harm right now?

For one person, that may involve access to sterile injecting equipment, naloxone, healthcare or information about overdose risk. For another, it may mean reducing use, avoiding dangerous combinations, engaging with treatment or moving towards abstinence.

The approach does not require someone to reach a particular stage of recovery before their health and life are worth protecting.

Reducing immediate risk can prevent harms that cannot later be undone. It can also keep people connected with services and create opportunities for treatment, recovery and further change.

Harm reduction and abstinence are therefore not opposites.

They are different ways of responding to risk and change, and they can be part of the same person's recovery at different times.

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