Featuring:

• [Moderator] Jessica Shortall, Coalition Manager, Safer From Harm, R Street Institute

• Lt. Diane Goldstein (retired), Executive Director, Law Enforcement Action Partnership

• Anthony Salandy, PhD, MSC., Senior Director of Development and Business Strategy, National Harm Reduction Coalition

• Dr. Jeff Singer, MD, Senior Fellow, Cato Institute

• Angela Malette, VP of Operations, End It For Good

Overview

Why don’t we treat people who use alcohol, cigarettes, cannabis, and/or opioids the same when it comes to having the power and tools to keep themselves safer from harm? Can harm reduction be adopted across public health issues? 

Harm reduction was born from people helping each other reduce the health, social and legal risks associated with their drug use. Today, many are applying the principles of harm reduction across a range of behaviors with public health risks. Harm reduction is even present in corporate America, including the commercialization of naloxone, burgeoning cannabis markets and the use of e-cigarettes as a reduced-risk tobacco product. There has been mixed reception to this expanded definition of harm reduction – from harm reductionists who argue that it co-opts the original movement to policymakers that fear it normalizes substance use.

This virtual panel will explore the state of integrated harm reduction, including conversation on: 

• How risky behaviors are not mutually exclusive in people’s lives and communities
• Whether and how integrated harm reduction can increase positive impacts for individuals and communities
• How differences in harm reduction issue areas might require differing policy approaches
• How we can drive adoption of harm reduction as a broader public health strategy, without diffusing its grounding in community