The Strategy of Harm Reduction in Work with People Addicted to Drugs and Alcohol

2016

The policy of EU Member States, the United States, South America and Australia is heading towards the restructuring of the support system for addicts by implementing actions meant to limit the health and social damages resulting from the use of psychoactive substances. Many countries offer access to low-threshold programmes whereby the participant is not forced to maintain abstinence or submit to the excessive rules and obligations of a rehabilitation center. Harm reduction is a philosophy based on pragmatic and realistic goals of working with addicts and users. It assumes that each change, even the smallest, is important and should be supported. Harm reduction programmes usually function i…