Harm Reduction: Shifting from a War on Drugs to a War on Drug-Related Deaths
"The U.S. government’s current strategy of trying to restrict the
supply of opioids for nonmedical uses is not working. While
government efforts to reduce the supply of opioids for nonmedical
use have reduced the volume of both legally manufactured
prescription opioids and opioid prescriptions, deaths from opioid
overdoses are nevertheless accelerating. Research shows the
increase is due in part to substitution of illegal heroin for now
harder-to-get prescription opioids. Attempting to reduce overdose
deaths by doubling down on this approach will not produce better
results.
Policymakers can reduce overdose deaths and other harms stemming
from nonmedical use of opioids and other dangerous drugs by
switching to a policy of 'harm reduction' strategies. Harm
reduction has a success record that prohibition cannot match. It
involves a range of public health options. These strategies would
include medication-assisted treatment, needle-exchange programs,
safe injection sites, heroin-assisted treatment, deregulation of
naloxone, and the decriminalization of marijuana. Though critics
have dismissed these strategies as surrendering to addiction,
jurisdictions that have attempted them have found they
significantly reduce overdose deaths, the spread of infectious
diseases, and even the nonmedical use of dangerous drugs."
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