What you need to know about drug harm reduction programs

According to the Center for Disease Control (CDC), between May 2020 and April 2021, overdoses exceeded 100,000 nationally for the first time. In New York City, over 2,000 died of a drug overdose in 2020. It was the most deaths since reporting of overdoses began in 2000.

In response, the city is the first in the nation to open overdose prevention centers. Two centers, run by OnPoint NYC, have been opened in Upper Manhattan. Users bring their own drugs, and the centers provide clean needles, counseling and health professionals. These centers exemplify a harm reduction approach to addiction.

Given these types of programs are likely to spring up across the country, it’s worth discussing the rationale and the evidence behind them as well as the potential pushback they will no doubt receive.

What’s harm reduction?

Overdose prevention centers are arguably the most politically charged strategy in an overall approach to drug addiction called harm reduction. Harm reduction concentrates on reducing the addiction’s consequences (the harm). These include damage to the user’s health — infections and overdoses, and harm to the community — public disorder and crime linked to drug use. Harm reduction approaches make room for counselors who can help drug users quit when they are ready. The focus, however, is on management, not abstinence.

New York’s overdose prevention centers are examples of a harm reduction…