If we make coca tea available, most people will choose that form of cocaine over more harmful forms like crack, as a matter of simple survival. People can make choices that reduce the harm to themselves and to society. It means helping the drunk or the junkie get services, rather than throwing the drunk or junkie or crackhead or speed freak in jail. Harm reduction means reducing the harm to police, too. It means that if a cop goes to pat someone down and gets stuck with a needle, the chances are much less that the cop will become HIV infected if the needle has been cleaned with bleach or has been obtained from a needle exchange.
Harm reduction is focused on public health.
Harm reduction means changing the attitudes and behavior not only of users but also of doctors, police, politicians, and public health officials. It means redefining the concept of public health from old 19th century concepts to new 21st century concepts. The emphasis is on community health rather than on agency agendas. Harm reduction also means learning innovative techniques from what works in other countries. We can learn from Australia that it is a public health measure to have a government van drive way out in the country to deliver needles, alcohol wipes, healing creams, and AIDS prevention information to drug users in their own homes.