New York City Communities of Color and Harm Reduction: Current Findings and Future Recommendations

• NCJ Number: 197503
• Author(s): Denise Paone Ed.D.
• Date Published: 2002
• Length: 23 pages
• Corporate Author: Harm Reduction Coalition; New York AIDS Coalition
• Sale Source: Harm Reduction Coalition; New York AIDS Coalition
• Publication Format: Document
• Publication Type: Report (Study/Research)
• Language: English
• Country: United States of America

Annotation

This document presents an assessment of the perception and application of harm reduction within communities of color in New York City.

Abstract

Harm reduction is an alternative to the moral/criminal and disease models of drug use and addiction. By placing drug use on a continuum, harm reduction principles accept that abstinence may be the end point for many drug users. The goals of this assessment were to describe how experts defined, perceived, and practiced harm reduction; identify issues and barriers; and identify priorities and recommendations. The sample consisted of senior level staff from agencies that provide drug and/or HIV services and address policy or advocate for drug users from communities of color. Of the 25 respondents, 20 were people of color. Results showed that there was no singular definition of harm reduction offered by respondents, but their perceptions of drug use significantly differed from traditional drug treatment providers. Respondents agreed that support for harm reduction has increased during the last few years. There was significant variability among agencies regarding the availability and utilization of harm reduction training for staff. Respondents perceived the need to re-define how success is measured and supported the development of research and evaluation instruments that can measure incremental change. The ambiguity of the relationship between harm reduction and drug legalization, and the ambivalence about community based and grass roots organizations' relationships with government agencies are two impediments confronting harm reduction. Issues that drug users are forced to confront include the stigma associated with keeping drug users marginalized, and homophobia. How agencies address client and staff drug use was a topic of serious concern. Important cultural and ethical differences included a severe shortage of training or educational materials available in Spanish, and perception among some members of the Latino community that their issues were not always taken seriously. Some recommendations are clarification of harm reduction principles and participant driven research and evaluation utilizing a harm reduction framework. 4 notes