When Harm Reduction Casuses Harm

 

I’ve been a recovered alcoholic/addict since January 7, 2005. When I first got sober I was dead set against any type of harm reduction. My opinion was the AA Way or the highway!! Since then my mind has opened to certain types of harm reduction.

I’ve worked on a couple street outreach vans where we handed out safe needle, crack and meth kits, etc. The theory behind handing out these kits is not to encourage drug use but to encourage safe drug use. An addict is going to use whether they have a clean needle or not. However, if they use a clean needle the chances that they contract a deadly or serious blood disease are lowered so when if they ever decide to get sober they don’t face an extra challenge. Getting sober is arduous enough without having the stress of a disease on top of it. Most people know you can catch a disease by sharing needles but do not know how sharing pipes can do it. If someone has a cut on his or her lip/mouth and blood gets on a shared pipe then it’s possible to spread a disease. It is not as bad as sharing needles but remember how careful we were during COVID?

Here’s where harm reduction begins to cause harm. In Canada, particularly Vancouver, we have what’s called safe supply. Safe supply is when the government (funded by taxpayers) hand out free opiates to addicts. Since Vancouver started doing this, the number of overdoses have not gone down. In fact, they have been in record numbers. The safe supply that is given out, for free, is hydromorphone. Most of the people who get this free handout then sell it on the streets and buy Fentanyl. So, in essence, we are funding their drug addiction.

Addiction is a disease and one should not be ashamed that they have it nor be ashamed to seek help. However, it is a unique disease as it’s the only disease that tells you that you don’t have it. If someone had offered me free booze and drugs while I was addictive in my addiction it would’ve been a lot harder for me to reach my moment of clarity which led to change and a decision to get sober.

In my personal and professional experience, one does not change if one does not feel some kind of pain. Free drugs, and what appears to be a new woke philosophy that we should accept that active addiction is fine and dandy thus not encouraging people to get sober, is adding to the death toll. A recent documentarian was in my area to show and talk about his documentary “Love in the Time of Fentanyl”. It’s about the opiate crisis in Vancouver. One of the people in the film was on hand as well. She is an active addict that works at the safe injection sites. She is allowed to smoke crack on the job. What type of job allows someone to actively use drugs/alcohol? I remember in my second treatment centre I told my counsellor that I wish I could get a job that paid me to drink. I guess I should have moved out to Vancouver. Although, I’m pretty sure if I did that I would’ve died from pancreatitis.

Dave the Dude