Harm reduction – in some countries called risk reduction or minimization of damage – is a strategy for addressing the potential harm related to drug use.
Its first objective is to reduce the negative effects resulting from the use of drugs, and from there, building together with the subject which requires more complex goals, in order to improve the quality of life for the drug users.
The harm reduction strategies have focused not only on the individual practices of drug users, but also on understanding their vulnerability to develop appropriate interventions and establish specific relations of caring and reciprocity between the individuals and the groups in the contexts of drug use.
Some harm reduction programs develop activities to involve other habitants of the territory in which they are involved with (residents, social activists or public institutions such as schools or health centers) in the transformation of situations of suffering that affect them.
