In the United States, 10% of people report that at some point in their life, they had a substance abuse disorder. This figure does not account for people who are currently addicted. More than 100 people die from overdoses every day in the U.S., a rate that has tripled since the 1990s.

For many people, traditional pathways to recovery and sobriety such as rehab don’t work. Harm reduction programs aim to help people with substance abuse issues at any stage of addiction but often are seen as enabling or ineffective. The stigma around substance abuse and harm reduction makes passing legislation difficult, negatively impacting those struggling with substance abuse disorders.

What is Harm Reduction?

Harm reduction reduces the negative consequences of drug use and abuse. Common strategies for harm reduction include supervised drug use, education and promoting safer use. Harm reduction tactics help people with substance abuse disorders stay safe. Wider access and education about the life-saving drug Naloxone saves people from overdosing on opioids.

Promoting drug checking prevents overdoses. Needle exchanges decrease the spread of blood-borne illnesses such as HIV and hepatitis. Harm reduction meets people where they’re at in their journey — keeping people alive so they can make it to sobriety. Not only does harm reduction focus on preventing overdoses, but also provides fact-based drug education for everyone. When compared to commonly used scare tactics, fact-based drug education lowers substance abuse rates. Scare tactics often have the reverse effect and can cause individuals at high risk to become more attracted to substance use. Harm reduction saves lives.

Shane Brooks, a mental health advocate who spoke during the house health and human services committee meeting in favor of the bill said, “I had to try rehab six different times. Every time I came out of rehab there was another relapse and those relapses led to overdoses. If harm reduction had been around, and somebody could have met me where I was at, chances are I probably wouldn’t have had to go to rehab as many times as I did.”

Combating the Stigma

An important part of harm reduction includes decreasing the stigma around addiction. Stigma surrounding substance abuse makes seeking help harder for those struggling. People with substance abuse disorders may worry that they will be looked down on if they seek help. Stigma may even push substance abusers to intensify their drug intake. People who don’t fully understand what harm reduction entails often view it as enabling addicts because if they truly didn’t want to use drugs they would simply stop.

Addiction isn’t a choice, it’s a chronic brain disease. Drugs such as opiates have been found to rewire a user’s brain, making them dependent on the drug. Quitting certain substances “cold turkey” can create severe withdrawal symptoms, such as nausea, tremors and increased heart rate. Recovery is a long and hard process, something that doesn’t happen overnight. The idea that substance abuse disorders are a choice does nothing but hurt those who are addicted.

Holdups in Utah

During this year’s legislative session, House Bill 161 proposed to create a council to research and recommend harm reduction policies that would best serve Utah. The same bill was proposed last year, (House Bill 143) but also failed to pass. Utah’s legislation heavily skews right, and the prevailing conservative view on harm reduction is that it enables people with substance abuse disorders. Passing anything to do with harm reduction proves extremely difficult in a conservative environment.

The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, which is overrepresented in the legislature, also cultivates an environment where any sort of substance use is looked down on. The church highly emphasizes abstaining from all substances, including caffeine and alcohol. This can create an atmosphere that makes it especially difficult for people struggling with substance abuse to come forward, for fear of alienation from their community.

With the heavy influence of LDS culture and right-leaning politics on the legislature, harm reduction bills have a close to zero chance of passing under current leadership, even though the implementation of harm reduction practices could bring down the number of overdoses significantly.

Drug abuse has always been a difficult subject to talk about, and the stigma surrounding it still affects many people. Harm reduction starts with reassessing the stigma around substance abuse, and creating a better environment so that those struggling can seek out the help they need. Utah needs to create a space for legislation like H.B 161 to pass and make recovery more accessible for all.

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