What the sources say
Acta — Is harm reduction the most effective way to deal with drug problems?
Harm reduction is a public health approach that accepts drug use as a social reality and focuses on minimising associated harms — without requiring abstinence as a precondition for care. The debate about whether it is the most effective policy response to drug problems sits at the intersection of medical evidence, moral philosophy, and politics. This page examines what the evidence shows.
increase in US drug overdose deaths over 20 years — during which enforcement-first policies dominated
spent on enforcement since the 1980s. Drug prices are lower. Use is the same or higher. The war on drugs has failed.
lower odds of future arrest among harm reduction program participants vs control group
of needed funding that harm reduction actually receives globally — $151M vs $2.7B needed
saved in criminal justice and healthcare costs for every $1 invested in harm reduction
of new HIV cases attributable to PWID in Portugal by 2015, down from 52% in 2000 under decriminalisation + harm reduction