Science shows that harm reduction works

Harm reduction works. It saves lives, and it helps people overcome their addictions.

As I’ve engaged with people who opposed harm reduction efforts, I’ve noticed that the opposition is usually based on ideologies or, at best, cherry-picked data.

For example, people claim that until the local supervised consumption site opened, they never saw discarded needles, despite the fact that Arches has been distributing needles for decades. Since the SCS opened, they’ve seen discarded needles. They use this experience to extrapolate that needles are on the rise and that the SCS is the cause.

(This is an example of the frequency illusion, a type of cognitive bias, but that’s kind of beside the point.)

Anyhow, someone recently asked on Facebook for readings people could use to learn about supervised consumption sites. Since I’ve been sharing a bunch of such resources on my Facebook page, I thought I’d compile a list of them here.

If you know of others, let us know in the comments.

Enjoy.

• A Community Based Report on Alberta’s Supervised Consumption Service Effectiveness
• Community Impact of the Streetworks Supervised Consumption Service at George Spady Society
• Supervised Consumption Sites by Kris Samraj
• Impact of a medically supervised safer injecting facility on drug dealing and other drug-related crime
• Heroin on trial: systematic review and meta-analysis of randomised trials of diamorphine-prescribing as treatment for refractory heroin addiction
• Supervised injection services: what has been demonstrated? A systematic literature review
• Reduced injection frequency and increased entry and retention in drug treatment associated with needle-exchange participation in Seattle drug injectors
• Preventing HIV Transmission: The Role of Sterile Needles and Bleach