The Double Standard of Harm Reduction: Why It’s Time for Change

What if I told you that something we consistently implement throughout society is also one of the most controversial topics?

What is it, you ask? Harm reduction.

The concept of harm reduction is something we already use in countless ways throughout Western society — yet when it’s applied to substance use, it suddenly becomes a hot-button issue.

Let’s take seatbelts, for example.

Before seatbelts were implemented, society faced a growing problem. We had become dependent on cars as a primary mode of transportation, but people were dying in car accidents at alarming rates. The solution wasn’t to tell people to stop driving — because we knew that wasn’t realistic. Driving had become a way of life.

So instead, we looked at the statistics and noticed something important: people who wore seatbelts had a much lower risk of dying in car accidents. That led to one clear conclusion — seatbelts save lives. As a result, in 1976, we took a harm reduction approach to driving and implemented seatbelt laws.

Now, let’s look at bike helmets.

Riding a bike comes with the risk of falling and sustaining a head injury. But we didn’t ban bicycles — again, because that’s not realistic. Instead, we created helmets, which allow people to keep biking while reducing the risk of serious injury. That’s harm reduction, plain and simple.

I could list even more examples: steel-toe boots, safety goggles, sunglasses, sunscreen, life vests, high-visibility clothing — the list goes on.

Harm reduction isn’t new.

So why can’t we apply it to the ongoing crisis caused by the unregulated drug supply?

We know harm reduction can help reduce the strain on our healthcare system. More importantly, it can save lives.Prohibition hasn’t worked — not in the past, and not now. So why can’t we learn from every other situation where we’ve used harm reduction to prevent harm?

Like so many things, it comes down to stigma.

Instead of looking at realistic, evidence-based ways to address the problem, we let outdated beliefs and uninformed opinions guide our decisions. We reject the research — even when it contradicts our assumptions. And this resistance is costing lives.

This is one of society’s greatest flaws: ignoring what works, wasting tax dollars, and clinging to judgment instead of compassion. And every day that we delay change, more people die because of it.