Seatbelts for when you speed down a slick highway, cholesterol medication when you have a difficult time controlling your diet — these are tools we use to protect ourselves from our imperfect behaviors. Harm reduction is a set of practical strategies designed to reduce the negative consequences of risk behaviors, centered around accepting people where they are at. 

In this episode, Dr. Daniel Ciccarone talks about the principles and goals of harm reduction as it relates to substance use, what strategies are currently being employed, and how we can leverage the criminal justice and healthcare systems to expand its role.

Dr. Ciccarone is a Professor of Family and Community Medicine at UCSF and principal investigator of the Heroin In Transition Study. His research focuses on contextual issues of treatment and prevention of HIV/AIDS, the medical consequences of use of various sources and forms of heroin, and the intersection of HIV and substance use. 

Learn more about Dr. Ciccarone at https://profiles.ucsf.edu/daniel.ciccarone#toc-id3

If you enjoy what you hear, please feel free to contribute at www.trappedunderstandingaddiction.com to support harm reduction efforts.

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