Reducing Harm

What is Harm Reduction?

Harm reduction is grounded in justice and human rights — it focuses on positive change and working with people barring judgement, coercion or discrimination. It does not require that they stop using drugs as a precondition of support.

Harm reduction uses a range of strategies in order to promote the dignity and wellbeing of people who use drugs.

Strategies include:

psychosocial support
overdose prevention
referral to treatment
safer techniques
managed use
abstinence

These approaches are proven to be cost-effective, evidence-based, and positively impact both individual and community health.

Harm reduction aims to promote and preserve the wellbeing of people who use drugs by meeting them where they are — without leaving them there.

Overdose Prevention

If you or a loved one need help, call 911 and ask for Naloxone. This rescue drug rapidly reverses an opioid overdose by helping a person start breathing again. Find out where to get Naloxone in Siskiyou County.

Safe Medication Storage & Disposal

Over half of all people who have misused prescription pain relievers said they got them from a friend or relative for free. Proper storage and disposal of medications at home is critically important in the effort to decrease opioid misuse and overdoses.

Syringe Services

A key part of reducing harm from injected opioid use is syringe services programs (SSPs), also known as needle exchange programs. SSPs are community-based programs that provide access to sterile needles and syringes, facilitate safe disposal of used syringes, and provide and link to other important services.

Fentanyl Testing

Fentanyl is a synthetic opioid that is 50 times stronger than heroin and up to 100 times stronger than morphine. Fentanyl overdoses have more than quadrupled in the past several years. There are test strips that can tell if fentanyl is in unregulated drugs, NOW AVAILABLE! Find test strip and needle exchanges with Siskiyou Healthy Mobile Unit.