What Does The Term “Harm Reduction” Mean?
Harm reduction is a pragmatic and compassionate philosophy which accepts the reality that people will always engage in high risk behaviors such as alcohol intoxication or drug use, Alcohol harm reduction seeks to reduce the negative consequences of alcohol use and alcohol intoxication on both society and the individual drinker by informing individual drinkers about the differences between high risk drinking and low risk drinking as well as teaching them strategies to avoid drinking risks. Alcohol harm reduction seeks to promote harm reduction by offering support and encouragement for every positive change in individual drinking behaviors. Alcohol harm reduction recognizes that many people making a small but significant change in behavior can have a vastly greater effect in reducing harms to society than a small number of people making a very large individual change in behavior. One very clear cut example of how this harm reduction works is the seatbelt law. It would be truly wonderful
