Dealing with the harms of harm reduction

 Some of the jurisdictions that pioneered harm reduction measures to reduce drug overdose deaths are dealing with problems of public drug use.

The NYT has this story:

Bold Experiment or Safety Risk? Canada Is Divided on How to Stop Drug Deaths.  British Columbia’s partial retreat from an experiment to decriminalize drug possession reveals a political shift in Canada over combating the opioid crisis. By Vjosa Isai

"decriminalization, a policy introduced as a way of alleviating the opioid crisis, has instead been blamed for deepening it. Scenes of people openly using drugs on city streets have led several elected leaders, other critics and even some supporters to say that decriminalization is contributing to a sense of public disorder.

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"In May, the federal government, which regulates controlled substances, approved a provincial request to reverse the policy and again make public drug use and possession in British Columbia a crime.

"The shift came not long after a similar experiment in Oregon ended in April, following a vote by the state Legislature to re-criminalize drugs amid soaring overdose deaths.

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"practices, collectively known as harm reduction, are driven by a strategy meant to keep drug users alive rather than getting them to quit.

"Services that fall under this category include needle exchanges, safe injection sites, the distribution of naloxone, a drug used to reverse overdoses, and the testing of street drugs to reveal the presence of any other harmful substances.

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"Safe injection sites, along with decriminalization, are among the harm reduction measures that have come under attack from critics who claim they lead to crime and perpetuate a cycle of drug abuse.

"In British Columbia, critics say the province should not have pursued decriminalization without also bolstering other services that drug users need, like housing and addiction treatment.

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"Many residents, he added, complained of increased drug use on public transit, near schools and in entrances to businesses.

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"Some frontline workers say harm reduction practices are being targeted to score political points at a time when death tolls are reaching new highs and different approaches are necessary to keep users alive."