Humans have been engineering strategies to reduce the risks of life for as long as humans have been engineering everything. As it relates to addiction, harm reduction is a stragegy that emerged to help prevent the spread of disease and has been successfully applied to supporting people with chemical dependency. We explore the criticisms, concerns, and science behind harm reduction. 

Recommendations

• Abraham: Cocaine Bear (https://www.imdb.com/title/tt14209916/)
• Shane: Charles Bukowski - Hollywood (https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/38505.Hollywood)
• Bonus: National Harm Reduction Coalition (https://harmreduction.org/)

Links: 

1. https://youtu.be/Llm5vVybJWw?si=MtwfI2gl_ZYq_mul
2. https://www.samhsa.gov/find-help/harm-reduction
3. https://www.hhs.gov/overdose-prevention/
4. https://nida.nih.gov/research-topics/harm-reduction
5. https://harmreduction.org/about-us/principles-of-harm-reduction/
6. https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/0306460396000421
7. https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/02791072.2001.10400463
8. https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0196064420313871
9. https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s11606-021-06904-4
10. https://academic.oup.com/smr/article-abstract/10/1/3/6880246
11. https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0230886
12. https://accp1.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1002/jcph.1937
13. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/16203323/
14. Walley AY, Xuan Z, Hackman HH, et al. Opioid overdose rates and implementation of overdose education and nasal naloxone distribution in Massachusetts: interrupted time series analysis. BMJ. 2013;346:f174. doi:https://doi.org/10.1136/bmj.f174
15. https://americanaddictioncenters.org/harm-reduction
16. Aspinall, E. J., Nambiar, D., Goldberg, D. J., Hickman, M., Weir, A., Van Velzen, E., . . . Hutchinson, S. J. (2014). Are needle and syringe programmes associated with a reduction in HIV transmission among people who inject drugs: a systematic review and meta-analysis. Int J Epidemiol, 43(1), 235- 248. doi:10.1093/ije/dyt243
17. Bernard, C. L., Owens, D. K., Goldhaber-Fiebert, J. D., & Brandeau, M. L. (2017). Estimation of the cost-effectiveness of HIV prevention portfolios for people who inject drugs in the United States: A model-based analysis. PLoS Med, 14(5). doi:10.1371/journal.pmed.1002312
18. https://www.cdc.gov/ssp/syringe-services-programs-summary.html
19. https://www.aamc.org/news/drug-overdoses-soar-more-providers-embrace-harm-reduction
20. doi: 10.1016/j.sbspro.2013.06.591
21. Des Jarlais, D.C., Feelemyer, J., McKnight, C. et al. Is your syringe services program cost-saving to society? A methodological case study. Harm Reduct J 18, 126 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1186/s12954-021-00575-4
22. Ijioma, S. C., Pontinha, V. M., Holdford, D. A., & Carroll, N. V. (2021). Cost-effectiveness of syringe service programs, medications for opioid use disorder, and combination programs in hepatitis C harm reduction among opioid injection drug users: a public payer perspective using a decision tree. Journal of managed care & specialty pharmacy, 27(2), 137–146. https://doi.org/10.18553/jmcp.2021.27.2.137

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