NCJ Number
182747
Editor(s)
James A. Inciardi,
Lana D. Harrison
Date Published
1999
Length
243 pages
Annotation
This introduction and 10 papers examine the philosophical basis for drug policies based on harm reduction; the outcome of harm reduction policies; and conflicts between the public health system, where most harm reduction program are located, and a worldwide criminal justice system that makes drug users marginal.
Abstract
The introduction notes that no clear consensus exists on the meaning of the term harm reduction. Additional chapters provide an overview of the history and development of harm reduction worldwide, noting that harm reduction policy has increased in popularity; analyze the history and implications of methadone maintenance programming; and document the history of needle exchange programs. Further chapters analyze the history of marijuana as medicine, the current controversy surrounding medical marijuana in the United States, the increasing problem of drug abuse among women, and approaches used by pregnant drug users and other drug-using women to reduce drug-related harm. Other papers provide an overview of Dutch drug policy, including the role of the coffee shop phenomenon in creating and maintaining a separation of the marijuana and heroin markets, and discuss the evolution of harm reduction strategies for drug users in Brazil. Further chapters explain the history drug policy in Canada, with emphasis on recent developments related to harm reduction, and discuss how Australian drug policy over the past 10-15 years has focused more on public health than on the legal aspects of drug use. The final chapter takes the position that the punitive approaches to drug control in the United States will continue and that a logical approach is to make the United States criminal justice system more human, through the use of criminal justice-based treatment approaches that have a harm-reduction role. Tables, figures, chapter notes and reference lists, index, and author biographies