Helping Create Safe Communities & Neighbourhoods

By: Jason Taylor

As a Harm Reduction Coordinator, I come into contact, on a regular basis, with individuals involved in criminal or socially undesirable behavior.  To help clarify this, it is necessary for me to provide a brief understanding of Harm Reduction practices, programs and philosophies.

Harm reduction is generally understood to be any program or policy designed to minimize the harmful social, economic, and health consequences of risky behavior, for individuals and communities.  Such risky behaviors are often typified as injection drug use (IDU), inhalation drug use, unsafe sexual practices, etc.  These behaviors are risky for a number of reasons, but the primary focus is often on the increased risk of transmission of blood borne pathogens, such as, HIV, Hep C and Hep B among users and the general public.  As well, these types of behavior are complex and are often accompanied by other overlapping socially undesirable activities.  With this in mind, it must be noted that there are a host of social factors related to high risk behaviors which must be acknowledged.  In much the same way that Crime Prevention strategies acknowledge and attempt to address some of the root issues which lead individuals into criminal activity, Harm Reduction programs see addictions and high risk behavior as symptomatic of larger issues.  Harm reduction programs operate pragmatically on the understanding that individuals are not always in a place where they are able or willing to cease partaking in risky behaviors, but that, in spite of their current lifestyles, they have a right to health care, safety and respect.

Our clientele are composed of drug users, individuals involved in the sex trade, the homeless and under served, and anyone else at risk of infection or illness.  Clearly, this client group exists on the fringes of society; they are the extremely marginalized, and often find themselves at odds with the Criminal Justice System (CJS).  It is here, I think, that we find the strongest similarity between Crime Prevention strategies and Harm Reduction approaches to socially undesirable behavior.  Crime Prevention strategies such as, Crime Prevention through Social Development, Situational Crime Prevention, Community Crime Prevention and Restorative Justice approaches all seem to acknowledge the shortcomings of conventional approaches, such as those espoused within the CJS, in effectively addressing crime and the underlying social, cultural, and economic factors associated with crime.  Harm Reduction practices have come to exist in response to the general lack of success of the reactive ‘war on drugs’ strategies and abstinence based programming which our CJS insists upon enforcing.  Sadly, we see the cyclical mechanisms of the CJS at work in the criminalization and imprisonment of those with addictions issues: addictions are widely acknowledged as a health related matter, not a moral matter.  Yet, our prisons are overcrowded with those suffering from addictions and are fertile ground for drug use, criminal education, and the spread of infections (It is important to note that illicit drug use and legal/pharmaceutical drug use are not incompatible, but often closely related, further blurring the lines of the law).  In a recent article published by the Canadian HIV/AIDS Legal Network, it is stated that, in Canada’s federal prison system, “the number of reported cases of HIV rose from 24 in 1989 to 170 in 1996 to 204 in 2005″ (Canadian HIV/AIDS Legal Network). Further, the article notes that “[t]he prevalence of hepatitis C virus in prisons is even higher than HIV prevalence … [in] 2002, … 25.8 percent of federal prisoners were known to be HCV – positive”. Unfortunately, individuals can be infected with these viruses for years before knowing it, making them all the more potent in an environment of ignorance.  Rather than supporting creative approaches to these realities, we see our government officials throwing more money at tactics that have, for decades, proven themselves unsuccessful.

Certainly, the CJS, and its various approaches, has its place in the healthy functioning of our society. However, it is but one of many components required for the prevention of crime and disease, and correcting social injustices.  Issues of crime and addiction are far more complex than their superficial manifestations; socio-economic vulnerability, family violence and deviance, mental health issues, and misplaced intentions are only a few peripheral factors relating to crime and substance abuse.  Again, these things are symptomatic of larger pervading social issues and cannot be cured simply by reactive measures alone.  Crime Prevention could be significantly enhanced through the use of Harm Reduction strategies which attempt to shed some light on the human side of social ills, and have huge potential in paving the road to a brighter future.

Jason Taylor is the Harm Reduction Coordinator for the Central Alberta AIDS Network (CAANS)
Call: (403) 346-8858 or Email: jason@caans.org

Filed under Community Crime Prevention, Education & Awareness, Portals for Discovery