The Reduction of Drug-Related Harm

E. C. Buning, E. Drucker, A. Matthews, R. Newcombe, P. A. O'Hare, E. C. Buning, E. Drucker, A. Matthews, R. Newcombe, P. A. O'Hare

• Publisher: Routledge
• Year: 2013
• Print ISBN: 9780415066921
• eBook ISBN: 9781136124525
• Edition: 1
• Topic: Medicina
• Subtopic: Atención sanitaria

The War on Drugs' has traditionally had total abstinence as its target. The contributors to this book take a new and challenging approach to problem drug use, arguing that abstinence is not the only solution. They believe that existing methods of treatment and control have been inadequate in controlling or improving drug problems and they propose a radical alternative: reducing the harm associated with the use of illicit drugs. International in scope, the book covers a broad range of drugs, and of social and individual problems. The spread of HIV infection, which has been described as a greater threat to individual and public health than drug misuse is also considered. The contributors give an overview of the current theories and practices that have helped to minimise the harmful effects of drugs and describe national and city-level strategies towards drug problems. They also cover the drug policies of several agencies and organisations world-wide, including police, doctors, community groups and local authorities. Concentrating on reducing drug-related harm, this in an important contribtuion to the debate on the future shape of drug control systems. It questions the role and function of existing drug laws and discusses how harm reduction will shape day-to-day work with drug users. Provocative and persuasive, it should be read by all policy-makers and practitioners faced with drugs problems, and will do much to help establish new strategies for dealing with drug use, strategies that minimise rather than exacerbate drug-related harm.

Table of contents

• Cover
• Half Title
• Title Page
• Copyright Page
• Contents
• List of figures and tables
• List of contributors
• Preface
• Acknowledgements
• 1 The reduction of drug-related harm: A conceptual framework for theory, practice and research
• 2 Drugs and criminal justice: A harm reduction perspective
• 3 The impact of harm reduction drug policy on AIDS prevention in Amsterdam
• 4 Public health and health behaviour in the prevention of HIV infection
• 5 Beyond the prohibition of heroin: The development of a controlled availability policy in Australia
• 6 International law: The final solution?
• 7 US drug policy: Public health versus prohibition
• 8 Cocaine users’ perceptions of their health status and the risks of drug use
• 9 Police policy in Amsterdam
• 10 The criminalization of pregnant and child-rearing drug users: An example of the American ‘Harm Maximization Program’
• 11 Clarifying policy options on drug trafficking: Harm minimization is distinct from legalization
• 12 Self-injection education for street level sexworkers
• 13 HIV and drugs: Handy hints for women
• 14 Smack in the Eye!
• 15 A harm reduction educational strategy towards Ecstasy
• 16 An empirical study of the relationship between heroin addiction, crime and medical treatment
• 17 The role of the police in harm reduction
• 18 Reaching the unreached: An outreach model for ‘on the spot’ AIDS prevention among active, out-of-treatment drug addicts
• 19 The streetcorner agency with shooting room (‘Fixerstuebli’)
• 20 AIDS prevention with injecting drug users in the former West Germany: A user-friendly approach on a municipal level
• 21 Representations of drug users: Facts, myths and their role in harm reduction strategy
• Name index
• Subject index