Section: 17 of 38
Due to its highly politicized nature, there are many misconceptions related to harm reduction programs and a lack of knowledge about their outcomes. Common beliefs held about harm reduction include that these types of programs promote or ‘enable’ substance use, contribute to community disorder, and increase crime rates. Not only is it important to remind people that harm reduction is everything from wearing a seatbelt to offering supervised consumption sites, but research also shows that harm reduction often produces the strongest positive social and health outcomes both for individuals who use the services and for the communities they live in. For example:
- Between 2018 and 2023, police data indicates a notable reduction in crimes such as robberies, break and enters, theft, shootings, and homicide in neighbourhoods that had supervised drug consumption sites in Toronto compared to neighbourhoods that didn’t have one (Woodward, 2024)
- Methadone maintenance therapy has shown to improve social functioning, reduce risk-based behaviours, improve physical and mental health, and reduce mortality among people who use opioids (Beirness et al., 2008)
- Overdoses occurring in public are 10 times more likely to result in hospital admission than those occurring at supervised consumption sites. Hospital admission is a much costlier intervention (Canadian Mental Health Association [CMHA], 2018)
