CHHSM Anti-Racism Center
Together with Movements
“Harm reduction refers to policies, programs and practices that aim to minimize negative health, social and legal impacts associated with drug use, drug policies and drug laws. Harm reduction is grounded in justice and human rights–it focuses on positive change and on working with people without judgement, coercion, discrimination, or requiring that they stop using drugs as a precondition of support.” —Harm Reduction International
The first Harm Reduction Work Group started in San Francisco in 1993 with participants from diverse backgrounds of race, gender, and substance use experience. One of the clear connections the Harm Reduction movement makes is with the “war on drugs” and white supremacy and racism. The drug war has produced profoundly unequal outcomes across racial groups, manifested through racial discrimination by law enforcement, disproportionate incarceration, and policies targeted against communities of color.
- Policy Platform: End the War on Drugs by the Movement for Black Lives
- The Drug War is the New Jim Crow by the ACLU
- Overdose Prevention Sites Are a Tool for Racial Justice by The Philadelphia Inquirer
- Black Lives Must Matter in Harm Reduction by the Comer Family Foundation
- Race and the Drug War by Drug Policy Alliance
- Mobilizing Faith to End Overdose and Anti-Blackness by Faith in Public Life
- End the War on Drugs for Good by Christina Dent