Decreasing Opioid Deaths, Not With Abstinence, But Harm Reduction

THE EASIER, SANER WAY? –

Dec. 10, 2021 – “It doesn’t address the underlying condition. It’s not preventing ongoing conditions, it’s just allowing life to be saved and reducing harm.” Harm reduction workers, such as those who work with the NC Harm Reduction Coalition (NCHRC), know all too well. Their goal is to reduce negative consequences of drug use and overdoses through promoting programs such as syringe exchanges and the distribution and education of overdose-reversing drugs like naloxone.

Public health officials, advocates and other stakeholders gathered Tuesday at The Chapel at Dix Park for the screening of “Harm Reduction in NC,” a documentary produced by the Governor’s Institute that celebrates the work harm reduction advocates across the state do to help people with opioid use disorder. The Governor’s Institute is a nonprofit that improves how health professionals treat substance use disorders. The documentary featured voices from grassroots harm reduction programs from across the state, from the NCHRC, which has offices across the state, and Guilford County Solution to the Opioid Problem, run out of the UNC Greensboro, to faith-based harm reduction programs like Olive Branch Ministry in Hickory.

Harm reduction organizations are doing the work that is “literally saving lives” in North Carolina, said Philip W. Graham, Senior Director for RTI International’s Center on Social Determinants, Risk Behaviors, and Prevention Science and board chair of the Governor’s Institute.

These programs don’t explicitly aim to get people off of drugs. Rather, they help save lives through prevention.