HARM REDUCTION

Truth Pharm uses strategies and policies that align with national and international leaders in Harm Reduction such as the Harm Reduction Coalition and the Drug Policy Alliance. These include strategies for all levels of substance use and recovery ranging from “safer” use all the way to abstinence. We believe in meeting people “where they’re at,” and providing tools and resources that will help them stay healthy and alive. There is no “one-size-fits-all” harm reduction remedy; each individual and community is unique and will have specific needs.

Some of the practices central to the harm reduction principles are as follows.

• We recognize and accept that substance use (licit and illicit) is part of our world and we work to minimize its harmful effects rather than abolish use.
• We believe that people can have healthy relationships with substance use, while others may have problematic use. Problematic use encompasses a range from risky use, to physical dependence to Substance Use Disorder. We acknowledge that there are ways to minimize the harm including safer ways to use along this continuum.
• We believe that interventions aimed at increasing the quality of the individuals’ and the community’s lives and well-being do not require cessation of all drug use in order to be successful.
• We believe in providing services and resources to people who use substances and to the communities in which they live, in a non-judgmental, non-coercive manner with the purpose of reducing attendant harm.
• We believe that substance users, past and present, should help to craft programs and policies designed to serve them.
• We believe in empowering people who use substances to be the primary agent in reducing harm from his/her substance use.
• We do not ignore or minimize the real and tragic dangers associated with substance use.

Please see the Harm Reduction website for more information.