What is Harm Reduction?

According to the International Harm Reduction Association, harm reduction refers to policies, programmes and practices that aim to reduce the harms associated with the use of drugs (including alcohol) in people unable or unwilling to stop. The defining features are the focus on the prevention of harm, rather than on the prevention of drug use itself, and the focus on people who continue to use drugs.

Harm reduction may include: 

• User-to-user interventions, education, organizing and advocacy
• Needle exchange programs
• Safe injection sites
• Opiate overdose prevention
• Methadone and Buprenorphine information and advocacy 
• Prescription heroin
• Drug law reform
• Addressing drug user stigma and challenging barriers that create harm

Harm reduction resources - posters, documents and other info.