First state Kate post about harm reduction
I understand people’s concerns about harm reduction, but most of the general public has no idea the benefits it brings and erasing the stigma against addiction is half the battle of battling addiction. When we remove services like these, we are limiting access and contact these people have with resources that could direct them to treatment. Portugal is a great example of if treatment/resources are properly funded and drugs use is stopped being treated as a moral failing, then things would improve. But providing access to clean needles and other materials is not what keeps people using and it really grinds my gears that that is the spin she is putting on this. Clean or dirty needle, an addict is going to use no matter what. The only difference is when a service is providing clean materials, we are reducing the spread of hiv, providing narcan to reduce overdoses and we are encouraging these people to have contact with services that can encourage them to go to treatment. It’s not just “heres your bag of rigs” and send them on their way. These services are mostly in combination with case managers/counselors to give drug users someone to talk to. A safe space, someone that treats them like a human being and then making them feel like “hey, you know, these people care about me. Maybe I am worth making a change”. It’s so much more than providing materials and I make this post so more people can understand that. Recovery is not something you can brute force on someone just by making them struggle and treating them like they’re a problem. It’s a whole process and requires a lot of time, patience, empathy and compassion. If you are unsure about harm reduction, please read more on it and inform yourself about the many benefits it brings and don’t listen to people like this who are obviously trying to spin helpful resources into being a bad thing.