Excerpt from Coming to Harm Reduction Kicking & Screaming, 2nd Edition:

Stories of Radically Loving People Who Use Drugs. 

 

A LITTLE HISTORY (OF AN OFTEN-OVERLOOKED PART) OF THE HARM REDUCTION MOVEMENT

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Whoever saves a single life is considered by scripture to have saved the whole world.

 …Jewish saying from the Talmud 

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Note: Since we often discuss the history of harm reduction through the lens of academia and white culture, I thought it would be more interesting here to view it through others’ lenses. What follows is terribly incomplete and brief, but I hope it gives you a taste of some of the other important contributions of BIPOC, 2SLGBTQIA and other overlooked communities to the origins of HR. 

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In Midland, MI, in the early 1970s, I was part of a small group of teens being trained in how to handle “bad trips” by local psychologist Dr. Don Crowder (who was also my doctor). Dr. Crowder wanted to open a safe space for teens who were experimenting with drugs—mainly hallucinogens (plus alcohol of course)—as well as train a few teens to help their friends. Teens were using such large amounts that they were at risk for reoccurring, lifelong problems in this mainly white, upper middle-class to high socio-economic town, (please know that my hometown was, and is, the international headquarters for Dow Chemical—Saran Wrap, Ziplock bags, and napalm bombs. Go Dow!). Dr. Crowder understood these well-off kids had the resources, i.e., time and money, to be using drugs far more often and in greater amounts than those not in those wealthy circles. (My dad was one of the few in town who didn’t work for Dow). continue reading