Use + Harm Reduction

Safehouse Won a Great Victory for Harm Reduction, NIMBYism Blocks It for Now

[Update, February 28: Less than 12 hours after this report was published, Safehouse withdrew its plan to open a safe…

February 27, 2020

Community Outrage at Oakland Homeless Camps Enforcement Proposal

The city of Oakland, California is considering setting guidelines on where homeless encampments will be allowed—and not allowed—to set up,…

February 27, 2020

Study: Fatal GHB Overdoses Could Easily Be Prevented

Many deaths involving GHB, a depressant that's popular in raves and chemsex scenes, in Australia might have been possibly prevented…

February 25, 2020

The Problems With Post-Overdose Response Teams

Drug overdoses (better described as toxic drug mixtures and poisonings) claimed nearly half a million lives in the US between…

February 24, 2020

Does a “Dialectical Abstinence” Program Qualify as Harm Reduction?

I first heard the term “dialectical abstinence” in the summer of 2019, several weeks into an intensive outpatient program (IoP)…

February 20, 2020

Some Residents, Officials Gang Up Against Syringe Exchange in Chico, CA

People who use drugs in Chico, California have faced opposition in obtaining sterile harm reduction supplies. Following residents' complaints about…

February 19, 2020

My Friend Died Because of Philly’s Addiction-Treatment Smoking Ban

I met Bobby in 2011, when we were both residents in a local recovery house. Bobby was 19 years old…

February 18, 2020

Utah Woman Heralded for Naloxone Save, But State Doesn’t Fund Distribution

The man is lying on a sidewalk, experiencing an opioid overdose. You recognize the signs, and know exactly what he…

February 13, 2020

Will “Sobering Centers” Help People Who Use Methamphetamine?

Officials in San José, California are proposing a new solution to rising rates of methamphetamine use in Santa Clara County.…

February 12, 2020

Banning GHB at Raves Is Dangerous

I slipped out of a stall in the dimly lit basement bathroom of a Brooklyn soul food restaurant, sliding a…

February 11, 2020