NCJ Number
217607
Journal
Drug and Alcohol Review Volume: 25 Issue: 6 Dated: November 2006 Pages: 611-624
Date Published
November 2006
Length
14 pages
Annotation
This article reviews evidence for the efficacy and effectiveness of alcohol, tobacco, and illicit harm reduction interventions.
Abstract
Overall, the review supported the wide-spread adaptation and implementation of harm reduction interventions as well as the use of harm reduction as an overarching policy approach for dealing with illicit drug use. The review indicated that most alcohol harm reduction interventions focused on reducing alcohol-related traffic accidents. These driving while intoxicated interventions were rooted in well-founded evidence. On the other hand, limited support was found for the efficacy and effectiveness of other alcohol harm reduction interventions. The area of tobacco harm reduction is still in its infancy and is rather controversial, yet there is evidence to suggest that new products under development may be effective at reducing the harm associated with smoking tobacco. In terms of illicit drug harm reduction interventions, evidence supports the efficacy and effectiveness of needle syringe programs and outreach programs. Yet, few studies have focused on other illicit drug harm reduction interventions, such as brief interventions and supervised injecting facilities. The review included systematic searches of published literature on harm reduction intervention evaluations. Comprehensive searches were completed on the following electronic databases: MEDLINE, EMBASE, PsycLIT, Cochrane, CINAHL, Science Citation Index, Social Work Abstracts, OVID, and the International Bibliography of the Social Sciences. Specialist addiction libraries and Web sites were also searched. For inclusion in the review, the goal of the intervention needed to be on harm reduction, not reducing drug use per se. Only English language research was used and there were no publication date parameters. The final sample of research articles included over 650 harm reduction evaluations, the majority of which involved harm reduction evaluations for illicit drugs. Future research should focus on developing a broad and easily adaptable harm reduction intervention policy. References